Search the Community

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

There is a theme that keeps coming up often enough that I'm starting to think its a clue as to the fate of the Cosmere, and the motivation of Adonalsium. The heralds are immortal beings that have minds, that have been "corrupted" by madnesses unique to each of them. At first I thought this was tied to their torture on Braize in between desolations, but I think it's also been hinted at that more than just the torture is wracking their minds. The immortality itself means their memories have disappeared into oblivion, which has contributed to the destruction of their identity as well: Kelek's Note: It's not just the heralds. A lot of immortal beings are tired of life. Secret History: I think Zahel is wrong. I think that cognitive shadows are the soul or contain the soul. The spren thing comes up a lot in RoW, but I think its wrong, if only because we see that the spren become more human-like over time rather than the other way around. Investiture becoming conscious and making decisions; it feels like spontaneous life from power, sort of Cosmere abiogenesis. I think that there are some more clues about this with Ishar's experiments trying to bring them into the physical realm. Also, is Ishar one of the five scholars? Something dark is going on there, maybe Ishar is the bad guy for the back 5? Anyway, more issues with immortality: Through Mistborn through era 2: Elantris Bringing it all back around: In RoW we get the BEST vision that Dalinar has ever sent to anyone, and I think this gives us a clue as to the meta-theme of the cosmere: This is the real deal. Somehow Dalinar used connection to allow a conversation between Tien's REAL soul with Kaladin. I think this has major implications for "Journey before Destination" - that connection is formed on the journey, and that it is possible to revisit those moments through connection. And Tien somehow influenced the world to get this object back to him. I have no idea how. Fortune maybe? The message is here: So what is the implication for the greater cosmere, history and direction? i laid it out kind of in a previous post I think these all point to a risk of immortality / immortality being a double edged sword, as a theme in the Cosmere. Even Adonalsium is hinted to have known about, and perhaps even had some part in their own shattering. I actually think this is the inspiration behind the Iriali religion. Dawnshard: So what is Odium's Endgame? I think with Odi-vangian we are going to see something interesting - Odium wants to preserve ALL life through making them immortal. I think this will end up being very anti-"Life before Death, Journey before Destination, Strength before Weakness". He wants to SAVE US ALL. To do it he will still likely want to destroy all other shards to be the last one standing. I think it might be interesting to see the endgame be the right to die (and go to the Beyond), versus the right to immortality but as a slave/servant/underling of the only god, Odium.

I'm afraid I'll have to post a wall of WoBs to get to it, so bear with me here Here's what we have regarding the God Beyond: I understand that a lot of people connected the idea of the God Beyond with the Beyond, which Brandon has said he's not going to talk about in any manner that might make one side or the other correct and the other incorrect. I didn't find any WoB that says that the God Beyond is connected to the Beyond. Brandon talks about capital-G God when he talks about this. The God Beyond doesn't necessarily have to be a capital-G God analogue, I couldn't find any WoB that definitively made a connection between the two ideas. This could be up to interpretation, I think. I took some of those WoBs to mean that that's how people in the Cosmere who believe in the God Beyond view the entity. I have floated the idea around that the God Beyond might be an entity similar to Adonalsium from beyond the Cosmere, which is, after all, a small star cluster in the deep black People have also speculated on the possibility of the mysterious light and warmth Dalinar feels originating from the God Beyond I've also seen the idea that the God Beyond might be the opposite to Adonalsium, citing these WoBs: So what do you guys think? Is the God Beyond an idea or an entity? Which one do you prefer?

Purely just a fun post, since Brandon has said outright that fans are free to assume whatever they like about precisely what the Beyond is since there's no canonically 'correct' or 'incorrect' answer regarding it, but what's everyone's favourite pet-theory regarding precisely what the Beyond is? Personally, I like to think that it's something like the afterlife scenario in Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy. Basically, when a sapient being dies, and they are able to accept and embrace their own mortal end, their soul's 'travel' through a non-place also known as the Beyond to the end-point of the universe (the time the universe 'ends'), the Omega Point, where all souls merge together to effectively become the God of the next universe to be created by them. Incidentally, if they aren't able to let go of life, they effectively stay trapped in the Beyond, leeching off of each other's memories and experiences until they reach the Omega Point the long way... unless a breach into the Beyond is accidentally made, then they basically become the Fused. Great series by the way, though in my opinion not as good as his Commonwealth Saga. Obviously I don't think this is what Brandon has in mind, though given the implied cyclic nature of the Cosmere universe, I think it would have a certain fittingness to it, that and it's just such a clever idea of what happens in the afterlife. Anyone else have any novel ideas of the Beyond they'd like to share? Like I said, purely just for fun. @NeutroniumAlchemist, you'll appreciate this I'm sure.

So near the end of Oathbringer, Dalinar hears Evi’s voice forgiving him. I think it’s reasonable to doubt that Evi could have remained a Cognitive Shadow for more than a few days. She has to be a Cognitive Shadow to communicate with Dalinar because the Beyond (after death and a ‘fading away’ of Cognitive Shadows) is inaccessible to even Shards. So, a couple of theories: —The voice was the Nightwatcher being devious and pretending to be Evi because Dalinar needed it to avoid collapse, eventually. Pretty plausible. —Evi didn’t actually have to be a Cognitive Shadow, because Dalinar’s Unity now and that could maybe unite them for a bit. A little less plausible, but still very acceptable. —Brandon is going to have to change canon or something because this was just too cool, and its conflict with canon is not (as Ivory would put it). Unplausible, but you never know. Something this awesome is bound to have its imperfections.