Random Speculation: The Gemstone

[WeiryWriter]

[Edit: I originally posted in a hidden forum, just so I could have the timestamp on it but now that we have these unpublised works forums I can finally share it with the public]
 
So a while back I posted about Peter saying that Aether of Night might be un-cannibalized.  He also mentioned this:
 

There is a reason that Aethers are already canon. I don't think anyone has figured that out yet.

 
When I brought it up before I, among others, felt that Peter was referring to the fact that what looks like an aether shows up in Mraize's horde:
 

That chunk of pale pink crystal looked like it might be some kind of gemstone, but why was it so delicate? Bits of it had flaked off in its case, as if simply setting it down had almost crushed it.

 
However this observation has been mentioned in pretty much every discussion of Mraize's horde, and I'd be surprised if he hadn't read at least some of them, so I don't think this is what he was referring to.  Just recently I was doing some edits on the Coppermind and one of the epigraphs from the Second letter caught my eye:
 

Have you given up on the gemstone, now that it is dead?

 
And then this morning I was reminded of this quote from Hoid:
 

"I've many." The man shook Kaladin's hand. "I began life as a thought, a concept, words on a page. That was another thing I stole. Myself. Another time, I was named for a rock."

"A pretty one, I hope."

"A beautiful one," the man said. "And one that became completely worthless for my wearing it."

 

There has recently been discussion that this refers to Hoid's use of "Topaz" as a pseudonym.  I feel this is likely, especially as there is at least one kind of aether that is topaz-ish in color.  So my speculation is this, the gemstone/beautiful rock in question is an aether Hoid was bonded to that died.  And that this is why aethers are already canon.

Edited April 15, 2016 by WeiryWriter

[Zas678]

I like the idea. And those mentions might be enough to cannonize Aethers. I've actually never read much of Aether though, so I couldn't say for sure. 

[Auger]

As soon as I read about the Amberite crystals I thought of Mraize and his cosmere collection, glad other people made the connection.

[calamity]

Makes perfect sense to me. Great find. I actually thought among the same lines, but quickly dismissed it since i did not realize that Crystals were part of the canon universe, but now told otherwise, great find. Up point for you Weiry Writer.

[the.fulgid]

I had the same thought as well, that the crystal in Mraize's collection was likely from Aether of Night. While I don't disagree with the idea that Hoid has an Aether, I'm also not certain I can get on board with his stone being one. Without delving much into Dragonsteel (where the name Topaz is used), we saw his power of Growth on vines and the topaz that he wore as the focus of much of his magic. The growth of vines is similar to Aether Verdant, but most everything he does with the topaz sounds more like Progression, the Surgebinding on Roshar. Also, I've always pictured Verdant being green, not topaz in color, so using that as the focus for growing vines kind of clashes. A closer color match would be Amberite, but that does something much different and we've never seen Hoid display that ability. Though, if Aether of Night is post-Shattering, as I believe it to be, perhaps the Aethers function differently now. Perhaps they have abilities that overlap, like Surgebinding abilities do.

If you ask me, it sounds like Hoid's abilities that require his topaz are more related to Stormlight than Aethers.