Search the Community

First of all, some WoBs: So, I recently came up with this theory. The theory was: pure atium burned allomantically would give the burner innate knowledge of hemalurgy, allowing them to instinctually know and use the finer points of hemalurgy, such as where to place the spikes and which metal to use for the desired effect. But from these WoBs I got that that’s not what it would do. It would just be more powerful (I believe). But I think it is possible that it is not impossible. Maybe, if you use pure atium hemalurgically it could give that ability. Some supporting points are: burning lerasium allomantically gives you the power of allomancy. Lerasium is the body and metal of Preservation, and allomancy is his magic system, so it makes sense that lerasium would give you his power. Would it not also make sense to use Ruin’s metal in his power to get the best effects? It also makes me wonder if you could do a similar thing with harmonium and feruchemy! Please prove me wrong, or supply me with more information to make it more rock-solid! I really like this theory, and I’m not the best at predicting what Sanderson is going to do. Odium Reigns…

Alright, I wanted to post this to the Mistborn forum, but I feel that this is going to extend farther than the confines of that series, so here we are. F-Atium. Stores age. When tapping, you have the appearance of your younger self. When storing, you get the appearance of your older self. Now, here’s the basis of the question I have. What constitutes your older self? People can change in the span of a few months, or even a few days. Anything can happen, and the world is unpredictable. Even more unpredictable when you have people launching coins at you and flying through the skies. When you extend that to the span of 20 years, thousands of options arise. Now, to preface, this is working off of the idea that F-Atium only affects your physical body, much in the way of F-gold. Your mind and memories are completely unaffected. At least, I’m pretty sure. Now, what are the limits of your future self? None, really. Can you age yourself forward to gain really big muscles? Can you gain frown lines or laugh lines? Can you get tattoos? Realistically speaking, any of those are very possible in the span of even 10 years. Can Atium actually do that? That’s what I’m not sure about. I would assume, and this is quite the assumption, that F-atium is utilizing fortune to do what it does. Taking a peek into the future and bring it to the present. The future has a lot of different offshoots, but some are more likely than others. This is the basis for a lot of Shardic fortune, as seen in Stormlight. Now, I understand what can determine the most likely outcome on a community level, but what determines the outcome on an individual level? Now, there’s certainly a lot of good that can happen in the future, but a lot of bad can happen as well. You can break bones, you can gain chronic illnesses, and you can even lose limbs. Now, depending on how F-Atium works, you could even theoretically age yourself forward into a paint in time where you are bleeding from a stab wound. How is that determined? What if you age into a point where you are dead due to a car accident? There is a million different physical things that can happen to you in the span of your lifetime, and the limits are nearly non-existent. But there has to be some, right? F-Atium is seen as a party trick by feruchemists, but what if it is secretly one of the most powerful feruchemantic abilities out there?

So now that Taravangian has Ascended, what happens to his boon/curse? If he is free of it, will his release from the boon/curse be his downfall? We know that he lost to Odium merely to save Kharbranth, specifically his own family and grandchildren (whom he also spared of any details concerning his political plotting). Cultivation made it so that his intelligence and empathy would be inversely related on any given day, so if he acts with intellect and empathy/passion, will he break down at the end of Book 5 because of needing to save his grandchildren in one scene? We know at the end of RoW, he's drinking in all this power and blinding everything else out, including Cultivation's offer to guide and teach him. So maybe in Book 5, we see that overwhelming amount of knowledge clear up as he accesses his deep emotion for his own family. Selfish, but it might just save Roshar—and "save them all"—from Odium. Thoughts?

Harmony is currently having trouble acting, because he is limited by the conflicting intentions of Ruin and Preservation. Consider Ruin and Preservation as two parties in a negotiation with each other. Since they are equally strong, they are at an impasse. Imagine a third, much weaker party joins the negotiation. Say, a pinch of Devotion's Investiture. As was mentioned in Mistborn Era 1, in a negotiation involving three parties, the weakest party is actually the most powerful, because each of the stronger parties needs the weakest party on its side to defeat the other strong party. So if Sazed had a splinter of Devotion, then whenever Ruin and Preservation were deadlocked, Devotion's splinter would break the tie. Obviously, Sazed would want to choose Investiture carefully for this purpose, since his Intent would probably become a watered-down version of the third Shard. Devotion would probably be fine. Odium would not. The original Vessels would probably be opposed to such a plan, because it is moving toward a re-unified Adonalsium. They should see, however, that it only slightly enhances Sazed's Investiture power, and might greatly increase his freedom, since the Intent of whatever Investiture he eats a pinch of might be so diluted by the neutral Intent of Harmony that Sazed's will might be able to steer the new Intent quite a lot. As far as I know, the Vessels have no problem with freedom, though they may object on the grounds that it gives Sazed too much power in practice. What do you think?

So what crazy possible cosmer inspired technology would you like to see in era 4? personally I would like to see spiritual realm storage. (Kinda like extra dimension storage) mistborn literally everywhere due to refining the mist. bullets that move though everything due to being refined stormlight. spirit web manipulation tools. ect. what’s your thoughts? Ideas? How would it work?

I have recently got my brother-in-law into the Cosmere. I told him about times the far-sighted among you here and on reddit had called out theories that proved to be right. Does anyone either want to claim their best theory that proved true, or have some google-fu / remember the original threads where these theories have been presented? My BiL is going in hard. He already bought a cork board and string/thumbtacks with note cards to keep track of relationships and make his own predictions. He's only finished Mistborn era 1 + Secret history so far, so I'll filter down what ya'll share if it has additional spoilers. Thanks!

So I’ve read it all and I’ve listened to the podcasts and I’m trying to find new things to theorize and ponder on. Hit me with your favorite and/or craziest theories that have you excited right now! I’m looking for a new rabbit hole to explore while I wait for the new Wax and Wayne book to come out haha any and all spoilers welcome! Pretty sure I’ve read everything Cosmere related at this point so if I don’t know it already it’s my own fault for not paying close enough attention lol

Rhythm of War spoilers ahead. Odium's deal with Dalinar says that if Dalinar's champion loses, Dalinar has to become an agent of Odium in the Cosmere. This might happen, but if it does, I think this won't end with Dalinar re-embracing brutality forever, so I suspect that it won't happen at all. Why? Because Brandon Sanderson's son is named Dallin. He is 12 years old now, about old enough to start reading the Stormlight books and noticing that a cool character has a name like his. Maybe Brandon did that intentionally. Maybe not. Either way, I bet this will be meaningful to the young lad. Would Brandon turn his son's special character into an evil monster forever? I think not. Dalinar will not be a brutal monster in the end. Edit: I just watched a Brandon video where he says that his son Dallin, to this day, thinks that Dalinar's name is Dallin R. This supports my theory.

Some people have theorized that some of our Radiants will replace the current Heralds and re-forge the Oathpact. If so, I have a disturbing suspicion: Kaladin will eventually become the only Herald who doesn't break (he might break during the next few Desolations, but not later), and the other new Heralds will eventually be tempted to pin the whole Oathpact on Kaladin, as the original Heralds pinned it on Taln. I know, Kaladin has tried to give up before, but that is because he is more tormented than most Radiants. He would go to Braize with a lot more experience bearing up under suffering than the others.

Nomad/Sigzil said his oaths "ended." Not that he broke them, but that they ended. Perhaps this means that it became logically impossible for him to protect people without harming them more. For instance, perhaps a deal was made with Odium that he would not destroy Roshar as long as the Radiants wouldn't protect the people of Roshar. In that scenario, protecting people would be breaking your oaths to protect them. That could explain why Auxiliary says he is dead, but isn't an ordinary deadeyes. Then again, a lot of things could explain that. Spren didn't become deadeyes when their Knights broke oaths before the Recreance. So much is changing, and maybe something else will stop there from being deadeyes again. What do you think?

Renarin had fits before he bonded his spren. They were called seizures or epilogue, but Kaladin thought something about the description of Renarin’s “seizures” didn’t quite fit, and he wanted to know more. Iirc, Brandon said that Renarin is meant to have autism. Is it possible that Renarin’s fits were actually autistic meltdowns? This would fit with Roshar’s lack of psychiatric knowledge. Renarin stopped having his fits when he became a Radiant. It would be curious if Stormlight cures autistic meltdowns but not depression. I don’t recall any evidence that Renarin’s other symptoms have gone away. Maybe Brandon sees meltdowns as stemming from a physical problem but depression and autism itself not. Or maybe it’s like atium, which allows allomancers to process more information than before. If my understanding is correct, meltdowns result from sensory overload. Maybe Stormlight healing or some power specific to Truthwatchers allow Renarin to process more sensory input than before. What do you think?

A few of my predictions for the remaining six Stormlight Archive books: Odium, Honor, and Cultivation will be re-shuffled. Honor is already shattered, so maybe parts of Honor will be taken up by the vessels of Odium and Cultivation, making War and Science. Or something else. In any case, I predict that they will in some way be re-combined. Lirin will become more important than he has been so far. TaravOdium will stick around, but if he doesn't (and maybe even if he does), Hoid will be significantly changed. Dalinar will be dead or enslaved to Odium before we get far into the back 5. Hoid's Trailman's Flute will play the pure tones of Roshar.

Ruin + Preservation is called Harmony. Honor + Odium, it seems to be implied, would be called War. What do you think other shard combinations might be called, if they ever come into existence? You can do combinations of two shards, or combinations of more than two. Here are a few ideas: Mercy + Devotion = Love Devotion + Honor = Faithfulness Autonomy + Mercy = Magnanimity Invention + Odium = Torment Honor + Preservation = Civilization Ambition + Autonomy = Ego

What do you think will be the main conflict of the final Cosmere novel. Maybe it will be Harmony vs. War (with War being Honor+Odium like Harmony is Ruin+Preservation). Maybe it will be 8 shards vs the other 8 shards. Maybe it will be something else. What do you think?

I have a theory: Two people will become the vessels of Odium, Cultivation and Honor, with Honor divided between the two of them. For instance, Dalinar might ascend to Odium and half of Honor, becoming an Odium-heavy shard of War. Someone else would ascend to Cultivation and the other half of Honor. Maybe Lirin would be Honor-vation, as he’s got Edgedancer vibes but is honorable to a fault. Each would be an active shard, unlike Harmony, especially War. War might be even more motivated to take over the cosmere than Rayse was, because of the Intent of the new shard. Cultiv-honor (can anyone come up with a real name?) would have the potential to be a very “good” Shard, depending on who the vessel is and how the two shards combine. I am only raising this as a possibility. I wouldn’t bet on it happening.

How will the Cosmere story end? Will there still be shards? Here is a list of possibilities for discussion. Adonalsium is re-formed with a new vessel. Adonalsium is re-formed without a vessel. The shards continue. The shards continue, but without vessels. The shards are splintered. All investiture, including shards, is destroyed, possibly by Nightblood. Any other possibilities? What do you think will happen?

Lirin, love him or hate him, is of Honor: he keeps his oath to a fault. So is he going to get a spren? I hope so. What kind? Well, here's my controversial idea: Lirin will bond an honorspren and become a Windrunner, and this has already been foreshadowed. Hear me out. Kaladin became a surgeon, at least temporarily, without breaking his oaths to protect. Being a surgeon, Kaladin discovered, qualifies as protecting people. Although Kaladin realized that due to the circumstances would eventually need to fight to protect, for some time in Rhythm of War he was simply working as a surgeon, with no intention of ever violently protecting anyone ever again, and his bond with Syl was just fine, unlike the time he almost broke his oath by betraying Elhokar. But would Lirin be breaking his oath if he refused to violently protect someone when necessary? Unlikely. Radiant oaths/ideals are subject to the interpretation of each radiant and spren. This has been confirmed. And since Kaladin's Third Ideal was "I will protect even those I hate, so long as it is right," we know that Windrunners don't have to protect when it is wrong to do so. If Lirin (and perhaps his spren) think violence is wrong, their interpretation of wrong-ness defines what breaks the ideals and what doesn't. It might even be enough for Lirin alone to think that he is keeping his oath, even if his spren disagrees. This is not yet clear. But does Lirin interpret his actions as protecting people through non-violent means? Or does he practice non-violence even though he thinks it means he can't protect people? Well, wasn't one of his reasons for avoiding war that when he fought back he got people killed? Getting people killed is the opposite of protecting them. I think he clearly thinks that he protects people specifically by refusing to be violent, and he probably also thinks he is protecting them by being a surgeon, as Kaladin did. Even if he doesn't use the word "protect" when thinking of surgery, surely the explicit use of that exact word isn't required there. Some may think Lirin wouldn't want to become a Windrunner. I agree. But it probably doesn't matter. Kaladin had no idea he was bonding Syl until it had already happened. Lirin could bond an honorspren without even realizing it. He might be deeply disturbed to discover he had formed a Windrunner bond. That is one reason I hope he bonds an honorspren. Such potential for drama! Lirin's potential feeling about the bond probably don't change the likelihood of the bond occurring. If he protects people as a matter of oath, he's suited to bond an honorspren, whether he thinks he is or not. He has only to think he is keeping his oaths to protect as long as it is right, not to think that being a Windrunner doesn't entail evil violence or killing your spren. Let's talk about the drama. Imagine Lirin being thrilled to discover his spren didn't die when he refused to kill someone. Or imagine Lirin recovering from the guilt of having caused Tien's death by fighting back, and therefore with a clean conscience killing a would-be murderer. Or imagine if Lirin started to understand he could kill to protect, but was undecided, made the wrong decision, and killed his spren. Imagine a desperate leader trying to force an unwilling Lirin to fight among the Windrunners, and Lirin fleeing, perhaps with Kaladin's help. Imagine Lirin trying to understand his bond and his oaths as Kaladin tried to help him. If Lirin bonded an oddball honorspren pacifist or an oddball honorspren who is just ornery and respects Lirins pacifism while other honorspren shy away, that spen could be a lot of fun to read about. Or if a normal honorspren bonded with him, respecting Lirin's honorable oath-keeping but disagreeing with his methods, imagine the arguments, the weirdness, and the tension. What if Lirin accidentally swore the first ideal while arguing with Kaladin or someone? You think you're so high and mighty, Knight Radiant? Well *I* put life before death, strength before weakness, and journey before destination! I think I always have! You don't get to claim that your better than us mortals because... Oh no. What is happening to me? And Lirin starts to glow.... And there's a reason I think he should be a Windrunner instead of a member of some other radiant order. It isn't just wishful thinking. The Windrunners' spren are honorspren. And like I said, Lirin is of Honor. Lirin is of Honor more than anyone else in on Roshar, because, no matter what the cost, he keeps his oaths. And that is what Honor, and I guess honorspren, values above all. And yes, this has been foreshadowed. Kaladin speculate that Syl could become a shardblade surgical instrument and suspect that the bond could be used in other ways if the radiants weren't constantly distracted by war. Obviously that applies to Kaladin, but also, potentially, to Lirin. And Kaladin's and Lirin's character arcs were clearly meant to be parallel, ending with their double baptism in the storm as they fell off the tower of Urithiru. That was where Kaladin swore the fourth ideal. Will Lirin swear his first?

Lirin, love him or hate him, is of Honor: he keeps his oath to a fault. So is he going to get a spren? I hope so. What kind? Well, here's my controversial idea: Lirin will bond an honorspren and become a Windrunner, and this has already been foreshadowed. Hear me out. Kaladin became a surgeon, at least temporarily, without breaking his oaths to protect. Being a surgeon, Kaladin discovered, qualifies as protecting people. Although Kaladin realized that due to the circumstances would eventually need to fight to protect, for some time in Rhythm of War he was simply working as a surgeon, with no intention of ever violently protecting anyone ever again, and his bond with Syl was just fine, unlike the time he almost broke his oath by betraying Elhokar. But would Lirin be breaking his oath if he refused to violently protect someone when necessary? Unlikely. Radiant oaths/ideals are subject to the interpretation of each radiant and spren. This has been confirmed. And since Kaladin's Third Ideal was "I will protect even those I hate, so long as it is right," we know that Windrunners don't have to protect when it is wrong to do so. If Lirin (and perhaps his spren) think violence is wrong, their interpretation of wrong-ness defines what breaks the ideals and what doesn't. It might even be enough for Lirin alone to think that he is keeping his oath, even if his spren disagrees. This is not yet clear. But does Lirin interpret his actions as protecting people through non-violent means? Or does he practice non-violence even though he thinks it means he can't protect people? Well, wasn't one of his reasons for avoiding war that when he fought back he got people killed? Getting people killed is the opposite of protecting them. I think he clearly thinks that he protects people specifically by refusing to be violent, and he probably also thinks he is protecting them by being a surgeon, as Kaladin did. Even if he doesn't use the word "protect" when thinking of surgery, surely the explicit use of that exact word isn't required there. Some may think Lirin wouldn't want to become a Windrunner. I agree. But it probably doesn't matter. Kaladin had no idea he was bonding Syl until it had already happened. Lirin could bond an honorspren without even realizing it. He might be deeply disturbed to discover he had formed a Windrunner bond. That is one reason I hope he bonds an honorspren. Such potential for drama! Lirin's potential feeling about the bond probably don't change the likelihood of the bond occurring. If he protects people as a matter of oath, he's suited to bond an honorspren, whether he thinks he is or not. He has only to think he is keeping his oaths to protect as long as it is right, not to think that being a Windrunner doesn't entail evil violence or killing your spren. Let's talk about the drama. Imagine Lirin being thrilled to discover his spren didn't die when he refused to kill someone. Or imagine Lirin recovering from the guilt of having caused Tien's death by fighting back, and therefore with a clean conscience killing a would-be murderer. Or imagine if Lirin started to understand he could kill to protect, but was undecided, made the wrong decision, and killed his spren. Imagine a desperate leader trying to force an unwilling Lirin to fight among the Windrunners, and Lirin fleeing, perhaps with Kaladin's help. Imagine Lirin trying to understand his bond and his oaths as Kaladin tried to help him. If Lirin bonded an oddball honorspren pacifist or an oddball honorspren who is just ornery and respects Lirins pacifism while other honorspren shy away, that spen could be a lot of fun to read about. Or if a normal honorspren bonded with him, respecting Lirin's honorable oath-keeping but disagreeing with his methods, imagine the arguments, the weirdness, and the tension. What if Lirin accidentally swore the first ideal while arguing with Kaladin or someone? You think you're so high and mighty, Knight Radiant? Well *I* put life before death, strength before weakness, and journey before destination! I think I always have! You don't get to claim that your better than us mortals because... Oh no. What is happening to me? And Lirin starts to glow.... And there's a reason I think he should be a Windrunner instead of a member of some other radiant order. It isn't just wishful thinking. The Windrunners' spren are honorspren. And like I said, Lirin is of Honor. Lirin is of Honor more than anyone else in on Roshar, because, no matter what the cost, he keeps his oaths. And that is what Honor, and I guess honorspren, values above all. And yes, this has been foreshadowed. Kaladin speculate that Syl could become a shardblade surgical instrument and suspect that the bond could be used in other ways if the radiants weren't constantly distracted by war. Obviously that applies to Kaladin, but also, potentially, to Lirin. And Kaladin's and Lirin's character arcs were clearly meant to be parallel, ending with their double baptism in the storm as they fell off the tower of Urithiru. That was where Kaladin swore the fourth ideal. Will Lirin swear his first?

Ok so! I just got off the phone, and here's what we talked about. Theory 1: The definition of Shattered is "(of something abstract) damaged or destroyed." Adonalsium is most definitely an abstract being. Something damaged/destroyed can be fixed, to a certain degree. The main point of this theory is that if someone could combine the 16 Shards, and the 4 Dawnshards, that massive coalescing of power would combine into a sentient being. A New Adonalsium. Theory 2 (Disproven): Only exact opposite shards can Splinter each other. Disproven because Odium Splintered Honor, Devotion, and Dominion. (Sorry if I missed any) Theory 3: As shown in the Dawnshard novella, Adonalsium is portrayed in the mosaic as a sun split into 4 chunks (Dawnshards) and those chunks were also split 4 ways (Shards). As such, all Shards are just manifestations of either one Dawnshard, or a combo of 2. Theory 4: Wit (Hoid, Cephandrius) is gathering parts of different Shard's magic systems to combine it all into New Adonalsium, as discussed in theory 3. Theory 5: Opposite shards (Preservation, Ruin) are needed to actually create life. The Singers were already there when Honor and Cultivation arrived, as were the humans on Ashyn when Odium got there. But Preservation and Ruin worked together to make Scadrial and its life forms. Theory 6: As discussed in the Dawnshard novella, Rysn feels from the mosaic different feelings. I forget what they were, and I don't know where to go to find the quote. If someone could do that, and post is as a reply, that'd be great. Back to the point, these feelings are interpreted as what Adonalsium felt during the shattering. And, as Adonalsium died, we theorized that parts of his being also became ingrained on the Commands used to kill him. The Dawnshards themselves. Thoughts on it all? Seriously, give me some thoughts. Please. I had way too much fun talking about this, I need more interaction based on these theories.

Hello everyone, I'm kinda new at this (just joined the 17th Shard, so please a have a bit of patience if you can). So I've been over my head, rereading the last chapters of Rhythm of War, alongside the Musings of El, and I don't know what to expect. It has been made obvious that Hoid fooled Taravangian (Odium) into making him believe that he erased Hoid's short term memories, and that Hoid doesn't suspect that Rayse is dead. I've read in another post a theory of Hoid playing a Reverse Uno card on Taravangian, making him try for a tie in the contest of Champions. This is very interesting to me, but also there are a lot of things that don't quite fit for me; we know Taravangian wants "to save them all" (which I assume he refers to all the people of Roshar, both humans and singers), could he be referring to Cultivation, knowing that she has her own agenda? Or is he referring to Hoid's plan (this sounds less appealing to me, since he just erased his memories stored in his breaths and then left him like that)? Could El be referring to this when he spoke about a Great War? If you got to this part, I thank you all for reading, thanks again for welcoming me to the community!

I have a theory that in era 2 of stormlight archive we will have computers which run on logicspren

It's been 6 months since Skyward, and if I remember correctly Jorgen mentioned that his family will pull him out of the DDF after 6 months. I doubt that's something Brandon will just toss into the book for no apparent reason. So...what do you think will happen to him? Tbh I have a nagging feeling that his parents are already working on it in the background, so we might not see Jorgen with the rest of Skyward Flight for a while in the next book/s. Maybe this way he'll discover more about his cytonic abilities...or cytonics in general (I'm really curious about his family and life too). (currently manifesting the 'Jorgen POV novella' energy) Of course these are all just guesses so I'll most likely be wrong, but toying with theories is fun, nonetheless. P.S.: I'm really hoping for a showdown scene between Jorgen and his parents about him being pulled out of the DDF. Seems like it will be fun to read.

This is a place to discuss any and all theories about who Odium’s champion for the contest of champions with Dalinar will be. To get you started, here are my thoughts on the topic. (This might run a little long, so I’ll put it in a spoiler box):

Hey guys/gals! Newbie to the forum and to the cosmere, although I'm pretty sure I've read all the published cosmere works by Sanderson + some non-cosmere works, absolutely devoured all I could put my hands upon these trying COVID times. So far my absolutely favorite non-serie novel is Elantris, in my opinion it sometimes feels a bit "rougher" than his later works but what it seems to lack in polish it absolutely nails in charm and general message of optimism facing at the least...non-optimal odds. I can safely say that having read it as the first novel by Sanderson impacted my life immensely. Of course later works, especially of the Stormlight Archives have "stronger" messages regarding depression, grief, loss etc' but Elantris always seem to stick to me better, at least with the nostalgy first-time reader factor. Now, I'm not a cosmere scholar, and like I said I have not read any unpublished works I've heard left sometimes lying around the place I've read some outlines of Sanderson in some wob's that talk about plans for future eras in mistborn etc', but I'd like to know how's the forum acceptance of crazy off the wall theories that I've got swimming in my braincase without any scientific basis except "it sounds nifty to me and kinda makes sense ... although maybe that's too """"simple""" for Sanderson" Is crazy theory discussion encouraged?

I myself don’t know really what they are planning or if they are planning something. Yet in Oathbringer we hear them discussing Renarin and how to influence him. Jasnah sends Ivory to investigate them but I suspect it is to look after Renarin. They act more like shamans then scholars but they are planning something. We heard little of them in Row but have we heard more of there plan.