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Introduction Well, this is one of the most incoherent theories I've ever cobbled together. But I think I have something, at the very least. Regardless, here we go. I will first state the theory, for the sake of retaining reader attention, then explain the evidence I have to prove it. Whatever the case, I believe I have found the nature of whatever resonance the Truthwatchers possess, or at the very least an ability they somehow employ. I will delay no further; I believe the Truthwatchers had the ability glimpse the future. Please understand, I have not taken temporary leave of my sanity. I know Renarin is not a true Truthwatcher, and I understand the Surges as well as any Cosmerenaut. Allow me to present my evidence, such as it is. Evidence 1: The Urithiru Gem Archive I think everyone who's closely read the epigraphs has flirted with this theory at one time or another. I quote below an entry made by an unknown Truthwatcher, detailing their plan to deny Voidlight to the parsh armies. See below: It has already been established that the gem type corresponds with the Order of Knight who recorded the message. I invite all to look at the final message, recorded in "a particularly small emerald." Obviously, whoever recorded it must have felt a need to record their foresight. Now, this can be taken two ways. The Truthwatcher had an uncannily acute sense of foresight, and very accurately judged the eventual findings and conclusions of a group of scholars, tacticians, and warriors. The word "foresaw" was used in a more literal sense. I'm inclined to believe the latter, for the fact that the gem was "particularly small" as well as the Truthwatcher's evident need for secrecy. Evidence 2: The Surgebinding Chart It is interesting to note how specifically the Truthwatchers are placed. Directly below the Bondsmiths. Not only this, but a strange line connects the two, completely unrelated to the surrounding art. I am not the first to note this; indeed, another user asked a question concerning it. Brandon admits that there is some significance to this placement, and that Truthwatchers are different from other Orders in much the same way a Bondsmith is. How interesting, especially in light of Evidence 1. Evidence 3: The Nature of Resonances We have some details concerning the nature of resonances. Kaladin and Shallan---and to a certain extent, Jasnah and Lift---have all demonstrated abilities that occur from their two Surges interacting. Kaladin can adopt far more squires, and those of far more power, than any other order. Shallan has uncanny mnemonic abilities that Brandon attributes to her order. The same goes for Kaladin. Jasnah is noted by Wit as having an uncanny sense of direction, leading to some speculation among the fanbase. Then Lift, who displayed a very keen sense of comprehension in the face of street slang worse than that of Spook's. What's interesting is how all these resonances seem have certain common characteristics. These are the ones I have noted. The resonances we do have, and some suspected ones, are at least tangentially related to the Surges that produce them. The resonances, at least in the case of Knights Radiant, seem to follow their order's underlying themes. There seems to be an almost thematic connection between the Surges and the resonance. Evidence 4: Renarin Fear not, intrepid readers, for I yet retain my sanity. I bring up Renarin only to point out the connection between this theory and one of Renarin's main abilities. As a Cosmerenaut, I do not believe much in coincidences, and find it very convenient that a Truthwatcher of old "foresaw" something, and Renarin, a corrupted Truthwatcher, sees the future in intermittent fits. Putting It All Together From all these pieces of evidence, I believe enough data has been gathered to draw conclusions. So, diving right in, we start with the very high likelihood that a Truthwatcher past somehow saw the future. This was something he fear, or was ashamed of, but regardless felt necessary to maintain secrecy over. Evidence 2 introduces the thought that Truthwatchers have some abilities that almost resemble those of a Bondsmith. At the very least, they have something Cognitively and Spiritually related. We know that seeing the future involves the Spiritual Realm, where time has no meaning. The conclusions drawn from Evidence 3 are the shakiest I have to offer, but I'll do my best to be clear. Truthwatchers of Ideals surrounding the nature of truth, and seeking it out. Thus, they are commonly scholars and scientists. They seek to banish lies and understand the world better. More than that, the Surges exclusive to Truthwatchers are those of Progression and Illumination. What an interesting combination. Looking at these purely thematically, a combination of the two might illuminate a future path, a way of progressing forwards. Finally, Renarin. Again, I find it far too coincidental how he can see the future. And perhaps this provides some insight as to the nature of Sja-anat's Enlightening. Maybe Enlightened spren almost lean into the resonance, and that is the pattern of affected Orders. Conclusion None of these pieces of evidence alone serve to help prove this theory. When taken together, however, the connections drawn follow some common paths. If you have any thoughts over this, please comment so. Any and all criticism are welcome. Many thanks for reading, Longshot97

Welcome, to the Hall of the Surges! Urithiru is a great city, don't get me wrong, but there's people who prefer something else. And that's what the Hall of the Surges is for. Here, Knights Radiant of all Orders intermingle freely, without the need to adhere to their Order's line. Of course, the less official structure compared to Urithiru means that you'll be more likely to find Surgebinders loyal - secretly or openly - to Odium here. Which is why we've given them seperate quarters. Anyways. This is the main hall, which is open to all who wish to visit. If you wish, you can take a moment to admire the breathtaking paintings one of our Lightweavers put on the ceiling. Here on the left, we have the House of Honor, which is where the Knights loyal to Honor have their home. On the right, you can find the Vault of the Void, where the Knights that follow Odium live. Here in the Hall itself, contact hopefully remains civil, and otherwise there's the door over there that leads to the Dueling Grounds. That's members only though, no visitors. Of course, duels can be fought elsewhere as well, if planned in advance. The doors over there in the front, you ask? Most of them are to the Council of the Knights, which is for members that have joined a faction only, and that last door is just for staff. Let's get into the details. This guild will be part of the Alleyverse and will consist of Surgebinders - though Worldhoppers are welcome, as long as they can Surgebind (possibly among other powers) and are balanced at Alleyverse level. Everyone who wishes to is free to join, regardless of other alliances. After joining, you get to choose between the Knights of Honor and the Knights of the Void, though you do not have to choose immediately if you want to get to know the guild first. Please note that, after joining either faction, you are not allowed to change your faction, except in currently unforseen circumstances. If you cannot Surgebind, you can instead opt to become someone's squire (with their consent, obviously), allowing you to use the same Surgebinder powers as long as you are close to them. You will also automatically join the same faction they are part of. Though there will be no hard limit, try to limit the amount of squires a single Radiant has to 2-3 unless the Radiant is a Windrunner, to keep with what from the books seems to be appropriate. The factions both have a faction leader (the Paragon of Honor and the Lord of the Void), and they may have separate alliances with other guilds. As leader of the entire Hall of the Surges, I will, depending on need, be neutral or fill in for one of the factions. Also, non-canon Order characters are accepted as long as the Order is properly worked out and balanced (see the About Me on my profile for the Skyshifter example). Please note that you are expected to follow the Oaths of your Order, no matter whether you join the Knights of Honor or the Knights of the Void - I'm already looking forward to how people will interpret their Oaths in unexpected ways (be honest, you all want to be an evil Knight Radiant). Some short skirmishing between members of different factions on this thread or one of the common discord channels is okay, but if you get into a real fight, please move to discord's dueling grounds, a thread in the roleplaying forum or a PM. Here is the discord channel, which is open to all (though most channels are restricted to certain ranks only): https://discord.gg/pacZWQT Membership: Guild Leader: @Leyrann: Skyshifter of the Third Ideal (Gravitation/Transportation). Paragon of Honor: @I am Witless: Edgedancer of the Fourth Ideal (Abrasion/Progression). Lord of the Void: @Nerd3.14159265358979: Truthwatcher of the Third Ideal (Progression/Illumination). Knights of Honor: @Mistspren: Stoneward of the Fourth Ideal (Cohesion/Tension). @Rebecca: Windrunner of the Second Ideal (Adhesion/Gravitation). @Mraize: Elsecaller of the Third Ideal (Transformation/Transportation). @LIFE&DEATH: Skydancer of the Third Ideal (Gravitation/Abrasion). @ShardBreaker: Skybreaker of the Third Ideal (Gravitation/Division). @Stormblessed Dolphin: Lightweaver of Second Truth (Third Ideal) (Illumination/Transformation). @The Thinking Herald: Elseward of the Third Ideal (Transformation/Cohesion). @Eccentric Hero: Truthwatcher of the Third Ideal (Progression/Illumination). Knights of the Void: @AonEne: Windweaver of the Second Ideal (Gravitation/Transformation). @Voidus: Elsecaller of the Second Ideal (Transformation/Transportation). @Gancho Libre: Skydancer of the Third Ideal (Gravitation/Abrasion). @Kidpen: Windrunner of the Second Ideal (Adhesion/Gravitation). Squires of Honor: @Archer: Squire to I am Witless (Edgedancer). @ElephantEarwax: Squire to I am Witless (Edgedancer). @Kaj: Squire to Life&Death (Skydancer). Squires of the Void: @I think I am here.: Squire to Voidus (Elsecaller). Members that have not yet joined a faction: None currently. Non-canonical Orders and unknown Oaths of canonical Orders: Truthwatcher oaths: Elsecaller oaths: Stoneward oaths: Elsewards: Skydancers: Skyshifters: Windweavers:

We know that humans from the Rosharan system came to Roshar from Ashyn. When they did so, they brought odium with them. They also brought surgebinding, as mentioned in the Aila Stele. But radiants and surgebinders as we saw them are a result of bonding spren of honour and cultivation, where the fused utilise voidbinding by bonding with spren of odium. So basically, would it not make sense that surgebinders on Ashyn were more like the fused in that they use voidlight and voidbinding as granted them by odium? This would then discount concerns about radiants destroying roshar because it's surgebinding granted by powers not prone to deatruction as odium is. I welcome any input.

So this thought was kindled by an off handed comment on the shardcast, and so I ask here after some thinking. Can a radiant become a savant in a particular surge? Or perhaps even to stormlight in general? we understand from Mistborn that savantism is the almost rewriting/overwriting of your sDNA to be 'this particular way now' as being more attuned to a particular power, so would a radiant who is using their powers a lot become a savant? Does stormlight's healing abilities simply restore you to your sDNA perceptions before you can become a savant? I welcome your input.

As my friend and I read about Urithiru and learned it was the home of what were essentially a bunch of gods in human form, we realized how hard it would be to manage that many people. Therefore we created our patented: List of Urithiru PSAs That Must Have Happened: Original set: -To the lightweaver who put an illusion of a chasmfiend in the oathgate entrance, a foreign emissary was coming on a diplomatic mission, and suffice to say relations are now…strained. -Windrunners, while sticking someone to the ceiling might be an excellent way to stop a fight, please remember to let the participants down gently afterward, particularly in rooms with high ceilings. -We understand that the hallways might be twisted and confusing to many, but please refrain from soul casting the walls, even if you are quote “late for a meeting.” Particularly do not soulcast any walls into blood. What is wrong with you? There were children nearby! -Edgedancers, slicking the floor for a “fun prank” is not acceptable, particularly in public hallways. We have a laundress with a broken hip, and she’s threatening to sue. -This is a general reminder to those of you with a gravitation surge, please keep track of your altitude and stormlight. We’ve had three accidents already this month. -This is a general notice to all knights radiant. We ask that you use the stairs to get down from the top floor and refrain from jumping off the balcony. The ground is full of cracks and the bondsmith are getting irritated. -Please remember that there are people here who are not knights radiant and therefore possess no special abilities or healing factor. There are currently eight people in the hospital due to negligence in this area. -Since there are still many of you who refuse to refer to the Dustbringers by their preferred name, Releasers, mandatory sensitivity training will be held within the week. Please check the notice board for your order’s scheduled date and time. There it is. Feel free to add more. Some of the other good ones from my tumblr post on this: - Stonewards, please refrain from creating handholds and staircases in the walls. The city planning committee is in an uproar and the traffic congestion is immense. - Lightweavers, please remember to remove your illusions after you’re done practicing. We have multiple falling injuries from people assuming that the holes in the floor are illusions and not actually scheduled maintenance. - To whomever Lashed the barracks doorway shut, we understand you are not on speaking terms with other members of your order. However, they do have a right to be able to sleep in their own bed. And no, you can’t Lash them to the ceiling as a substitute. from aspiringwindrunner - Skybreakers, we know you’re all about the rules, but covertly rerolling a saving throw doesn’t warrant an out-of-character death penalty. - Windrunners, please stop going up to visiting dignitaries and offering to “show them the world”. - Stonewards, we know your herald is the best, please stop getting in shouting matches with the skybreakers in the hallways. - Edgedancers, please stop talking the skybreakers in circles. Their Highspren have filed complaints. - Lightweavers, while your practice is certainly important, please stop sending images screaming salacious rumors through the halls. On a similar note, please stop making fake dead ends, the ambassador was lost for nearly two days. from kyerinell

Spoilers for OB.

An intriguing question. Seekers detect kinetic investiture, not innate investiture; for example, they can detect someone using Allomancy, but they can't detect whether someone is an Allomancer, so the obvious answer seems to be no. After all, if the Surgebinder is only holding it and not using it, it isn't very kinetic. However, it is constantly being consumed, strengthening the user, removing their need to breath, etc. and it is always draining out of them. What do you think?

Ever since we discovered that the small circles on the rear endsheet of The Way of Kings (what I call the Voidbringing chart) are symmetric around their centers, I've been looking for things to help me figure out how Voidbringing works - because it felt clear to me that there should be strong parallels with what we see on the front endsheet (the Surgebinding chart). The two are far too similar, so I believe they must be opposite in many ways. I think I finally have an elegant solution. But before I present it to you, a quick primer. Surges and Surgebinders We now know a lot about what the Surgebinding chart illustrates. There are ten Heralds around the borders. Each Herald corresponds to a big circle, enclosing a glyph - an Order of the Knights Radiant. Each big circle is connected to two small circles - the primal Surges members of that Order have access to. We now know the names of all the Heralds, all the Orders, and all the Surges, so there is no point talking about them, you can find the information elsewhere. I will provide only a list of all the Orders and Surges for quick reference. Voids and Voidbringers The most important part of my theory lies here. At this point it's pretty reasonable to say that the Voidbringers are the Parshendi. Or, more specifically, the creatures of destruction remembered by the people of Roshar are the Listeners when they embrace certain forms. In other words - and this is a part of my claim - when we saw Eshonai take on stormform, we only saw one type of Voidbringers, the same way Kaladin is one type of the Knights Radiant. Windrunners are an Order of the Radiants; stormforms are a... something... of the Voidbringers. If this is true, then there are nine other types of Voidbringers we are yet to see - one for each big circle on the rear endsheet. Eshonai represents one... let's call them Voidorders (we really need some words other than "void"...) of the Voidbringers, but unlike the Knights Radiant, she has the option to switch her Voidorder. She can go out during a highstorm, discard her stormform, and embrace decayform, nightform, or smokeform, for example. So far those are the only voidforms we have seen, I believe, but my gut tells me there should be a total of ten of those. So far so good. Now, let's tackle the small circles on the Voidbringing chart. Just like the big ones stand for Voidorders and are the opposite of the Radiants' Orders, the small ones are probably the powers, the Voids, each Voidorder has access to. These Voids would have to be something similar to the Surges, but can't be the same - but like much else, they can be their opposites. In fact, the way the Voids' glyphs are written supports this even further. Those glyphs are not just some asymmetric shapes, they are the Surges' glyphs, broken in half, and then put back together with one of the halves inverted, made its opposite. Considering how much emphasis is put on symmetry in Roshar, this looks like a pretty powerful symbol of not asymmetry, but of anti-symmetry instead. We've taken the Surges, something divine (as represented by their symmetry) and natural, and have turned them into an anathema. Still with me? Good. I won't speculate on what the Voids might be, though I suspect they will somehow end up mirroring the Surges. Instead, I will look at the different voidforms and make the claim that they stand opposite of the Radiants' Orders. Stormform, with its control over the winds (and lightning), sounds like the more hateful counterpart of the Windrunners. Nightform shares some of the future-telling capabilities Renarin, as a Truthwatcher, exhibits. Smokeform, "for hiding and slipping 'tween men," seems very similar to what Shallan can do with her Lightweaving. Decayform... will have to be put on hold for now. The Listener Song of Secrets is not very clear on what this form does, but it's possible that it opposes the Edgedancers ("watch where you walk, your toes to tread") or the Willshapers ("destroys the souls of dreams"). The Edgedancers are a good candidate because of Nale's remark about member of that Order gracefully running along ropes, but the Willshapers' name is more appropriate for the good counterpart of something that destroys the souls of dreams. Whatever that means. The colors on the two endsheets' big glyphs also match, so we could treat that as a piece of extra evidence that we are thinking along the right lines. So there you have it, folks. Voidbringing. I wish I could figure something out about the Voids, because they feel like I should be able to see them... but I can't. Not fully, at least. If Stormform is the counterpart to the Windrunners, then its powers should be somewhat similar. And in a way they are - we see Eshonai & co. call a highstorm (which involves strong winds, which are created by - among other things - difference in pressure; so there's a different form of Adhesion) and throw lightning around (which could be the Voidbringers' answer to gravity - Windrunners get Gravitation, Stormforms get Electromagnetism). The other Voidorders' Voids kind of sound similar, yet opposite, to their respective Orders' Surges, but we haven't seen enough for me to come to a conclusion. Is Smokeform (anti-Progression & anti-Transformation) the form creating illusions, blinding enemies, and summoning darkness? And even if it is, how would the Transformation Void even work? This is not to say that I don't like those anti-Surges, but we really need more information for a more conclusive theory. TL;DR The forms of power the Parshendi received from their gods are what transforms them from Listeners to Voidbringers. Each form (stormform, smokeform, etc.) opposes one Order of the Knights Radiant; Stormform, for example, seems to share the same abilities theme as the Windrunners. The powers those anti-Orders, Voidorders as I call them, also seem opposite to the Surges, but we don't have enough evidence. The term "Voidbringer" is about as descriptive as the term "Knight Radiant" - both are used to denote only one type of the entire category (all Windrunners are Radiants, but not all Radiants are Windrunners; all Stormforms are Voidbringers, but not all Voidbringers are Stormforms). I keep wanting to rename this thread to something more descriptive, but everything I come up with sounds like the name of a research paper. Voids, Voidbringing, and Voidbringers: The Nature of Odium's Investiture and its Applications to and by the Listeners...

There's a question to be asked: Why Nalan hunts Surgebinders? Or rather: Why does he believe that Surgebinders may cause Desolation? Let's get a timeline. I'll be puting quotes in spoiler tags. There were no Desolations before humans were on Roshar. At first, Heralds were the only Surgebinders. At one point, spren figured out what Honor did and started bonding humans which resulted in Surgebinders. Heralds became patrons of the Orders, at the same time imposing organisation on them. We know that between Desolations Radiants fighted with some monsters (Dalinar's vision with Midnight Essence). We know that Heralds are sent back to Roshar before Desolation. We know that if they stay too long after Desolation ended, another one will start. Aharietam and Recreance: The Last Desolation was 4500 years ago. There is a connection between Heralds tortured and Desolation. Kalak seems to believe that if Odium cannot torture them to break them, he can't cause a Desolation. After Heralds walked away from Oathpact, Knights Radiant did not leave their posts. Steel stores physical speed. When Recreance happened, one of the soldiers in Feverstone Keep mentioned that Radiants should be fighting devils on the front line. So even after Last Desolation monsters showed up. After Recreance there were probably no Surgebinders (or next to none, since spren turned away from humans). Honor was Shattered after Recreance (or maybe Tanavast survived Shattering long enough. It is nor clear or known.) since it is in one of the Dalinar's visions Modern times: Taravangian believes that Desolation happens when Heralds break under torture and that spren came back because it was to happen. Stormfather forbidden spren (or maybe only honorspren) bonding with humans in fear of Recreance happening again. He has to accept Words, though. Stormfather sent Dalinar visions as demanded by Tanavast. These visions request Dalinar to refind Knights Radiant Spren started bonding humans at least ten years ago (Shallan's childhood) Nalan hunts Surgebinders down because he believes that Surgebinding may cause Desolation. Voidspren started showing up en masse after "Taln" returned to Roshar. But Venli is suspected to bear stormform earlier. True Desolation seems to be triggered by chain reaction: stormspren start hijacking Listeners -> large number of stormform Parshendi exist -> Voidbringers summon Everstorm -> Everstorm circles Roshar carrying more voidspren, triggering more Voidbringers out of formless Parshmen But Radiants existed for a long time after the Last Desolation, until Recreance. When Heralds abandoned Oathpact Jezrien said "There is a chance we might end the cycle of Desolations." But that wasn't their intention, they wanted to get free of the torture. They seem to consider End of Desolations as a side effect, not the primary goal. They know that Odium is somehow bound by their torture and they're afraid he will find a way around them not returning to the Damnation. True Desolation seems to be different to the regular Desolations, but we do not know why. The question is, why would Nalan hunt Surgebinders since they existed before without triggering Desolation? Why is the True Desolation different from the previous Desolation? How is it different? What is the exact connection between Herald's torture and breaking under it, their return, release of voidspren and start of Desolation? Do spren sense Herald's coming near to point of breaking? Discuss, provide more quotes and WoBs you find relevant.

As I was sifting through the Shadows of Self Ars Arcanum looking for any juicy Cosmere tidbits Brandon may have put in there I was struck by the description the AAA gave about how combining powers is "like chemistry" and you get more out then what you put in. This relates to Twinborn having not just two powers that may be usable in tandem or compounded (depending on what metals you get) but also a third "effect" for each combo. This is super interesting in and of itself and I foresee it becoming the topic of much discussion on the Misborn part of the forum, but this post is about a possible implication this has for surgebinding. The AAA mentions Roshar when talking about combining powers Most theories about Surgebinding have postulated that its a mixture of Honor and Cultivation, but almost relegated *between* orders. Edgedancers with their vine like bondspren may be of cultivation while Windrunners with the Honorspren were of Honor. But this seems to imply that the mixture happens *within* each and every Order. Comparing mixing the surges to mixing allomancy and feruchemy seems to imply that all surgebinders have one surge from Honor and one from Cultivation equaling the two surges per order. The talk of the mixing producing "an effect" is interesting because we see that on Roshar too. Kaladin's natural skill with the spear, Shallan's memory, and Jasnah's uncanny sense of direction. If this is true, however, it begs the question which 5 surges come from which Shard and why. For example if this is right then for Windrunners Adhesion needs to be from one Shard and Gravitation from another. Going through the Orders and using the concept of mutual exclusivity (Lets say Gravitation belongs to Shard A and Adhesion to Shard B, then Division must belong to Shard B and Abrasion to Shard A and so on) gives us this list: Shard A: Gravitation Abrasion Tension Transportation Illumination Shard B: Adhesion Division Cohesion Transformation Progression Does this whole thing make any sense or am I just mentally chasing shadows? And if it does make sense to you, which shard do you think has which surges?

One of the questions I asked Brandon during his visit to Chicago had to do with what looked like special abilities some of the Radiants-in-training we've seen exhibit. I suggested that Shallan has the ability to take perfect Memories, Jasnah has an incredible sense of direction, and Kaladin is a naturally skilled fighter. Brandon agreed that those skills are supernatural in nature (though scholars disagree - which I can see happening if the spren are considered natural by some, and supernatural by others; if such a debate exists, and those abilities depend somehow on spren, then it's likely that there is a connection here). He also added that I might not have all three examples 100% correct - and now that I think about it, Kaladin's feels kind of lame. So here's the theory I suggest: The Knights Radiant gain not the ability to influence the natural world through Surgebinding from their Nahel bond, they also acquire some of their spren's abilities, but in a weaker form. Let's look at the Surgebinders and spren pairs we know of: Shallan & Pattern This couple is really the base of my theory. We know that Shallan can take a perfect visual Memory of things, a snapshot of reality, and we also know that Pattern can reproduce light and sound perfectly. Perhaps this is where Shallan's ability came from. It's worth mentioning that Shallan didn't always have this ability - we see her practicing in her flashback chapters, but I suspect the need to practice was a part of her recovery from repressing her memories of Pattern. I am toying with the idea that Shallan also has the ability to... persuade people, to change their minds, to change them - to transform them, in other words. There is some evidence for this: she is pretty good at convincing people to do what she wants - getting Jasnah to take accept her as a ward, convincing her to not only keep her around but also confide into her, getting Tvlakv to change his route and take her to the Shattered Plains, persuading Vathah and his deserters to fight against the bandits and save the caravaners, getting Sebarial to go along with her bluff and pay her the outrageous price she named, intriguing Adolin enough to make the boy to at least consider love for her. There are more, of course, and so it seems like a lot of what Shallan does is transforming people. This, if true, would give her one "passive" for each Surge, something that makes sense to me. But there is already little enough support for the original theory, I don't want to look too much into a derivative one. Jasnah & Ivory We don't really know anything about Ivory, but he must have control over the Surges of Transportation and Transformation. If Jasnah does indeed have a superior sense of geolocation, it could easily come from her spren. Transformation doesn't seem to fit too well with her, so I won't look for support for that derivative theory here. Not yet, at least. Kaladin & Syl I had to think pretty hard (read: over 10 seconds) about this one. Syl's control over gravity doesn't seem to endow Kaladin with insane yo' momma jokes, and her Adhesion Surge doesn't manifest itself directly... until you remember that she first thought she was a bondspren, she "holds things together." And this is exactly what Kaladin does - he held Bridge 4 together so hard, its members refuse to let go of the name even now. He is also pretty tight with Dalinar, and now with Adolin. Renaring and Elhokar both confided in him, essentially seeking his his help and advice respectively about how to fit in, how to become what they are supposed to be. There is the divine attribute of leadership too, of course. So now I don't actually think Kaladin's fighting skills are supernatural - it's his ability to hold people together, one way or another. Ym & ??? I am not sure we can get anything out of Ym - not only is his bond is pretty fresh, we don't see much of him. Lift & Wyndle So, Wyndle has mastery over the Surges of Progression and Abrasion. Unfortunately, much of Lift's thoughts and actions are impulsive, so we never get to see her deep personality (except for when she cares about those who are forgotten, but that alone is not really an ability). The one unexplained supernatural ability she has, her ability to metabolize food into Stormlight, is accounted for enough to know that Wyndle is not responsible for it. Plus, I am not even sure how Wyndle's two Surges would express themselves passively in Lift... Renarin & Glys I am not too sure about Renarin, but I think he taps into Glys' power over Illumination for some pretty heavy duty insight. I recall the first book mentioning how Renarin has the habit of looking at people in a way that makes them uncomfortable, as if he were staring into their soul, dissecting them, figuring them out. Perhaps not the best explanation, but it feels like it fits and is certainly better than trying to match him against Progression. Dalinar & The Stormfather Those two don't really apply. Their bond is even fresher than Ym's, and while it's possible that the whole "Dalinar has been bonding with him for a long time" could've give Dalinar something, I half doubt it, half don't want to explore it.

The Listeners seem to believe that the spren chose humans instead of Listeners as surgebinders because the Listeners were in some way inadequate. Following, respectively, are the Listener Song of Spren, 9th Stanza (epigraph to WoR Chapter 32) and the Listener Song of Secrets, 40th Stanza (epigraph to WoR Chapter 28): "The spren betrayed us, it’s often felt. Our minds are too close to their realm That gives us our forms, but more is then Demanded by the smartest spren, We can’t provide what the humans lend, Though broth are we, their meat is men." "The betrayal of spren has brought us here. They gave their Surges to human heirs, But not to those who know them most dear, before us. ’Tis no surprise we turned away Unto the gods we spent our days And to become their molding clay, they changed us." These passages seem to get backwards the relationship between cognitive beings (humans and Listeners), on the one hand, and spren. New types of spren come into existence when cognitive beings on Roshar personify something they have created or observed. Honor created surgebinding when he gave the Honorblades to the human Heralds. Sometime later, after the concept of human surgebinding had become personified in Shadesmar, spren created other human surgebinders through the Nahel bond. Spren did not “choose” humans to be surgebinders. There were simply no spren that personified a Listener surgebinding experience. That doesn’t mean it can’t be done. WoB states Listener surgebinding is possible. It just hasn’t been done. Yet…

In all fairness, this is not a real theory - because it's kind of been confirmed by Brandon. But when I was searching through the Theoryland database, I found an old WoB I had either missed in the past, or hadn't considered in its due depth: The part about "wounded" spirits being easier to fill with something else sounded pretty much exactly like the description of Words of Radiance from Brandon's site: The reason I am so excited about this is because of the scope of the older WoB. In the Words of Radiance bit, we've been (correctly) assuming it refers to the Knights Radiant - a Surgebinder must have a "broken soul" for a spren to bond with him or her. But considering the other quote and how... free of context it sounds (e.g. Brandon says "it has to do with a person's spiritual makeup," not "it has to do with an Allomancer's spiritual makeup"), I am beginning to think that this applies throughout the cosmere. The good news is, Nalthis might be pretty easy to explain in a way that fits the model. This whole "broken soul" thing is essentially a requirement people must meet before they can start doing magic; and since everyone on Nalthis could do magic, then they must all have broken souls. Which, in a way, they do. With all the Breath being passed around, I get the feeling that the spiritual make, the sDNA, of pretty much everyone is all over the place. Changes to the spiritual aspect of things take time to sink in, the soul needs time to adapt - and if people are constantly trading BioChroma and using it to Awaken things, then their spiritual aspects are constantly shifting and changing. The bad news, Sel might be a little more difficult to explain. The Elantrians and AonDor are easy - the Shaod comes and rewrites a person's spiritual aspect, breaking their soul if you will, and now that person can do magic. The requirement doesn't apply to the Shaod because it's external to the future Invester; It works the same way lerasium does - you don't need to be spiritually wounded to eat and burn a piece of lerasium and become an Allomancer, that's a process you personally don't need magic for. The other magic systems on Sel, though... well, we don't know enough about them. And I can't figure out how they fit the model from the little we do know about them. Forging might be the easiest to explain, because of reasons similar to the ones I provided for Nalthis. If you live in MaiPon, where Forging is pretty common and accepted, then there is a good chance you've been stamped or Resealed at one point or another - which, almost by definition, would have wounded your spirit. From this point on, it would've been easier for Brandon's "something else" to find its way in. Something like the Dor, maybe. TL;DR: A person's soul / spirit / Spiritual Aspect must be modified in a way that would live it "wounded" in order for that person to gain access to magic, the ability to Invest. This spiritual damage could be caused by emotional and / or physical trauma (Surgebinders and Allomancers), the simple passing of (spiritual) DNA from parents to child (Feruchemists), an external force that targets the spirit (Hemalurgically created Mistings & Allomancers, Elantrians, Dakhor monks), or high levels of exposure to Investiture that touches the spirit (anyone who has been Forged or Resealed (or Bloodsealed?), or practically everyone on Nalthis).

To start this off, I'm going to give a little Brandon quote. "The Highstorms are more related to the mist from Mistborn" This leads me to believe that first of all, the Highstorms may be some remnant body left behind of Honor after his splintering, as the mists were a sort of weakened body of Preservation after her trapping Ruin. This is supported by the time Kaladin sees the large face in the sky, possibly the face of Honor, or, another theory, this is the face of Odium, and the storms are his doing, which would be supported by the threat of the Everstorm. But regardless, we're talking Honor here. Now, another interesting thing about the Mist is that later in the series, (Mistborn spoilers) This could be similar to the Highstorms in this theorized way. Perhaps people need to go out into the Highstorms, or at least experience some exposure to them to develop a bond with a spren? Kaladin only started noticing Syl after spending time in the slave carts, where he had no choice but to spend time in the storms, since they were poorly protected. This could be Honor's way of communicating with people/helping them. (Mistborn spoilers) So perhaps Honor needs the storms? This could be supported by Dalinar's visions, confirmed to be sent by Honor, only happening during the storms.

The theory I have here isn't too backed up, but I have a feeling I'm at least close. And the next feeling I get is that it's horrible. Anyway, I think that the reason Shardblades and Shardplate glow has something to do with spren. So far, the only people we've seen with glowing shardblade are/were the Knights Radiant, and as soon as they left their Plates and Blades, they lost their glow. And they also were no longer "owned" by the Knights, whom we know had Spren due to their Surgebinding capabilities. My guess is, if a Surgebinder holds a Blade and/or is wearing a set of Plate, it will glow again. So if Kaladin does end up with a Shardblade, it'll glow. I hope.