Stormlight belongs to Endowment

[Leyrann]

We know that Highstorms were created originally by Adonalsium[1], as he created Roshar as a whole. Presumably, he also created the Rosharan ecosystem, which requires Stormlight[2](EDIT: @John203 found a WoB confirming Stormlight predates the shattering[7]). We also know that, after the Shattering, all Investiture got 'assigned' to one of the 16 Shards[3]. Additionally, we know that Stormlight and Breath are quite similar[2][4][5][6].

So I think that the Investiture that Adonalsium created for Roshar has been assigned to Endowment, particularly because of how dependant Roshar is on Stormlight; it endows all of the ecology. This is also why Breath is similar to Stormlight (though of course it also has some big differences): It's created by the Shard with the Intent that Stormlight also belongs to.

So yeah, what do people think? Nice connection, or doesn't make sense at all?

[1]: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/173-oathbringer-san-francisco-signing/#e8624
[2]: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/3-firefight-chicago-signing/#e63
[3]: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/256-oathbringer-london-signing/#e8605
[4]: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/7-calamity-release-party/#e6861
[5]: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/219-words-of-radiance-philadelphia-signing/#e7895
[6]: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/66-firefight-atlanta-signing/#e3106
[7]: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/35-arcanum-unbounded-hoboken-signing/#e2549

Edited January 15, 2018 by Leyrann

[Fezzik]

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/35-arcanum-unbounded-hoboken-signing/#e2549

[TheHeadHancho]

I think that stormlight has more to do with cultivation. We know that it kind of "endows" the ecosystem, but we also know that plants absorb stormlight to grow.

[Fezzik]

Point 2 talks about the similarities and differences between Endowment's magic and stormlight, and point 7 talks about how honor co-opted the stormlight cycle. I think stormlight is of honor and cultivation and all gaseous investiture is just easier to hack. 

[Leyrann]

6 minutes ago, John203 said:

Point 2 talks about the similarities and differences between Endowment's magic and stormlight, and point 7 talks about how honor co-opted the stormlight cycle. I think stormlight is of honor and cultivation and all gaseous investiture is just easier to hack. 

I think Honor used the Stormlight to fuel what he wanted to do, but did not actually change the Stormlight itself.

[anarchitect]

I like the theory as it builds on the whole cosmere having a bigger involvement in the SA series. We know Brandon is aiming for this and another shard being involved in SA is a possibility.

[RShara]

I think that the amount of investiture via Stormlight on Roshar is high enough that if it were Endowment, she would definitely have noticed, and probably taken it back.

Spoiler

From her letter in OB, you can see that she's interested in keeping herself to herself, and following what sounds like a non-intervention pact.  Being Invested in Roshar would be a violation of that pact.

 Additionally, we know current Surgebinding is of Honor and Cultivation.  In order to use one form of Investiture to power another requires some "hacking" has Brandon has put it.  Given that Breath and Stormlight are similar, there's not a lot of "hacking" necessary, but I don't think that the Radiants are aware enough to do even figure out a little hacking, particularly, enough to power Surgebinding with Endowment's power, instead of Honor/Cultivation.

Also, from 2, Stormlight inherently wants to escape, while Breath inherently wants to stick.  They're similar in that they are both gaseous forms of Investiture, but I think they come from different Shards.

 

Oh, almost forgot:  SA isn't meant to be the main Cosmere series.  Brandon's said he still wants most of the Cosmere to be easter eggs, although we will see more of it in SA than in earlier books, because it's later in the timeline.

Edited January 15, 2018 by RShara

[Leyrann]

But the thing is, Endowment would not actually have Invested in Roshar. Rather, Adonalsium has, and the Investiture related to the highstorms (Stormlight) got assigned to Endowment because of what it does.

After all, as the third source I mentioned says, there's Investiture from every Shard everywhere, but that doesn't mean the Shards are directly affecting it or anything.

As for Surgebinding being of Honor and Cultivation, I would argue that the only relation between Stormlight and Surgebinding is that Stormlight supplies the Investiture needed for Surgebinding, while Surgebinding is it's own system that works with any Investiture you can get (of course, the problem here is getting that Investiture in a way that you can still freely use it, rather than being forced into, for example, allomancy).

As for Breath and Stormlight's differences in sticking or escaping, there's this WoB:

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/291-twg-posts/#e8446

Quote

DavidB

Also, it seems to me like it would be more internally consistent if awakened objects consumed breath, to make all of these breath-consuming powers in the last few chapters fit in better. So for example, if Vasher awakened a shirt and left it awakened and doing stuff for a day, then he might be down one-seventh of a breath when he took it back at the end of the day. (Of course, that mechanic requires it to be possible to transfer or awaken with portions of a breath, and if you could do that, then using the "putting the breaths you don't want to transfer into a cloth until after the transfer" thing, you could feed the returned by taking a tiny fraction of all the Halladren's breaths, instead of taking some people's entire breaths and turning them into drabs.)

Brandon Sanderson

Hum. I like that suggestion, actually. I think I'll use it. Though, what I'll do is say that if you leave the breath in for too long, one of them vanishes. If you can get them back quickly enough, however, there is no loss. That gives a bit of a better explanation of why there aren't a lot of awakened objects doing things all over the place. True, using the breath to make them would be initially expensive--but if you got a magic object that never winds down, then that might be worth the expense.

So in a way, they do actually both escape, simply at different speeds.

[Yata]

@Leyrann we have a WoB that implicit states Stormlight comes from H or C or both

Quote

Djarskublar

So, say you have a gold/gold Twinborn and they worldhop to Roshar and they study the magic and do the whole Khriss and Nazh thing for a while so that they know a lot about the magic, but they've also left themselves a lot of options with what they can do. So then they manage to pull up a gold shadow of them having actually become a Surgebinder and then kind of meld themselves with that shadow a bunch, could they change their Cognitive Identity enough so that they could, like, tap a lot of Gold and grow the spren and actually be a Surgebinder?

Brandon Sanderson

Unfortunately, no. It's a good question, but no. That won't work for a couple of reasons. One of which is simply creating Investiture is not something that can happen, right?

Djarskublar

They are a gold Twinborn, so they can tap a lot of gold...

Brandon Sanderson

They can tap a whole bunch, that's true, they can do that, but simply having it is not gonna create a spren because the spren is from a different god, right, a different Shard.

Djarskublar

So if they had Regrowth cast on them, would that do it?

Brandon Sanderson

*hems and haws for a second*

Djarskublar

A really, really big Regrowth like in the middle of a Highstorm.

Brandon Sanderson

Hmmm, this, you are getting to the realm of plausibility at that point. I still don't think gold is the way to do it. I think you just get all that Investiture. It would become sapient by you sticking a whole bunch of Investiture, and then you can bond to that. But it's not like people gain what you would have done. Does that make sense? That's just what's going to happen, is you're gonna, you can create a, potentially create a spren that way, but you are more likely to end up with something like Nightblood. But you could potentially create a spren, but I mean you're just gonna end up...

Djarskublar

So there are more optimal ways to do that?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, go bond a spren. (evil grin of course)

Djarskublar

But you can't easily bond multiple, and if you did this you could maybe get multiple.

Brandon Sanderson

Nyeaaahhh... The spren still has to choose. If you want to be a Surgebinder, the choice is being made. You can't fake your way into it. Decision and Honor are too much a part of Surgebinding for you to be able to fake your way into that. Other magics you might be able to do that. Other magics that don't require, like, Surgebinding works because a piece of Honor or Cultivation or a mix has chosen you specifically. There is will from the actual Investiture involved in it in Roshar.

Djarskublar

Okay.

Brandon Sanderson

So it's not something you can cheat your way into, right. But cheating your way into Breath might be easier, right.

So unless you assume that every Spren (both lesser and Sapient) is made of Endowment's Investiture....The facts point to our Friendly Shards of the System

[Leyrann]

@Yata That post discusses spren bonds though, not Stormlight. Just because spren got assigned to certain Shards doesn't mean Stormlight got assigned to the same Shard(s).

[Yata]

43 minutes ago, Leyrann said:

@Yata That post discusses spren bonds though, not Stormlight. Just because spren got assigned to certain Shards doesn't mean Stormlight got assigned to the same Shard(s).

If you read the WoB, Brandon stated that a Gold Compounder can't craft a Spren with the trick described because the Investiture is of the wrong gods to generate a Radiant Spren (confirmed to be made of a mix of H&C), then Djarskublar changed his scenario to use Stormlight as Investiture to do the trick and Brandon stated it's now possible.

This means the Stormlight is made of the same composition of Spren.....And as the Radiant Spren are H&C's Splinters, it implies the Stormlight is the same.

[Leyrann]

2 hours ago, Yata said:

If you read the WoB, Brandon stated that a Gold Compounder can't craft a Spren with the trick described because the Investiture is of the wrong gods to generate a Radiant Spren (confirmed to be made of a mix of H&C), then Djarskublar changed his scenario to use Stormlight as Investiture to do the trick and Brandon stated it's now possible.

This means the Stormlight is made of the same composition of Spren.....And as the Radiant Spren are H&C's Splinters, it implies the Stormlight is the same.

That's not what Brandon says. He says, if you are using Regrowth in the middle of a highstorm (which means you're already trying to blunt-force it) that "you are getting to the realm of plausibility at that point", but then he says "I still don't think gold is the way to do it. I think you just get all that Investiture. It would become sapient by you sticking a whole bunch of Investiture, and then you can bond to that." You're still not making a spren, you're making a sapient entity like Nightblood.

Even though he does, technically, say it is possible after the Regrowth question, he says, in that very same paragraph "I still don't think gold is the way to do it", which means he's still looking at it from a "compounding with metallic arts" point of view; just with a 'better' stream of investiture coming in than gold (as Surgebinding in a highstorm is a practically infinite Investiture stream).

What I take from the post, anyways, is that yes, you're creating a spren, but no, it's not a standard Surgebinding spren, but rather something like Nightblood; simply some sentient Investiture.

[RShara]

6 hours ago, Leyrann said:

But the thing is, Endowment would not actually have Invested in Roshar. Rather, Adonalsium has, and the Investiture related to the highstorms (Stormlight) got assigned to Endowment because of what it does.

After all, as the third source I mentioned says, there's Investiture from every Shard everywhere, but that doesn't mean the Shards are directly affecting it or anything.

As for Surgebinding being of Honor and Cultivation, I would argue that the only relation between Stormlight and Surgebinding is that Stormlight supplies the Investiture needed for Surgebinding, while Surgebinding is it's own system that works with any Investiture you can get (of course, the problem here is getting that Investiture in a way that you can still freely use it, rather than being forced into, for example, allomancy).

As for Breath and Stormlight's differences in sticking or escaping, there's this WoB:

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/291-twg-posts/#e8446

So in a way, they do actually both escape, simply at different speeds.

Right, but given the amount of Stormlight on Roshar, Endowment would have to notice that her power is being used there.  And given that she's very non-intervention-on-other-planets, she would definitely withdraw her power.  The Shards aren't omnipotent, but they would notice significant amounts of their power draining away at regular intervals.  Brandon's talking about low levels of ambient power being used, not large amounts of investiture like a highstorm.

 

Brandon hasn't actually canonized the "breath leaking away" bit, and I think using that idea would require some retconning.  So he's going to have to be more firm in confirming that before we can use it as canon.

Additionally, Endowment's investiture takes the form of Breath, which anyone can hold and use.  Stormlight requires a Nahel bond or an Honorblade to use.  People who are not Radiants have been trying to use Stormlight to no avail.

The Stormfather is the Cognitive Shadow of Honor, plus a Splinter of his power.  He is the one that Invests the spheres as he passes.  I think he'd be aware of what and whom his power is coming from. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/25-paris-signing/#e1760

Quote

Narkac

Where does the Stormlight in highstorms come from? Is there like a "rain cycle", but for the Stormlight?

Brandon Sanderson

The Stormlight in the highstorm is transferred from the Spiritual realm through the Stormfather into the highstorm.

 

Thematically, introducing a fourth, unknown to all residents, Shard onto a planet that already has 3 Shards messing around with things, where the Shardholder herself is unaware that her power is being used, seems like a needless complication in an already complicated system.  I'm sorry, this is a cool theory, but there's really no solid proof of Stormlight being anything but H+C as all of the text heavily implies.

[Spoolofwhool]

1 hour ago, Leyrann said:

That's not what Brandon says. He says, if you are using Regrowth in the middle of a highstorm (which means you're already trying to blunt-force it) that "you are getting to the realm of plausibility at that point", but then he says "I still don't think gold is the way to do it. I think you just get all that Investiture. It would become sapient by you sticking a whole bunch of Investiture, and then you can bond to that." You're still not making a spren, you're making a sapient entity like Nightblood.

Even though he does, technically, say it is possible after the Regrowth question, he says, in that very same paragraph "I still don't think gold is the way to do it", which means he's still looking at it from a "compounding with metallic arts" point of view; just with a 'better' stream of investiture coming in than gold (as Surgebinding in a highstorm is a practically infinite Investiture stream).

What I take from the post, anyways, is that yes, you're creating a spren, but no, it's not a standard Surgebinding spren, but rather something like Nightblood; simply some sentient Investiture.

Yes, but he doesn't seem to disagree on the part which was trying to be fixed, was that the investiture would be from a different shard. So the implication is strong that the investiture in stormlight is the same kind of investiture which constitutes nahel bond spren, which we know to be of Honor and Cultivation.

[Leyrann]

3 minutes ago, RShara said:

Right, but given the amount of Stormlight on Roshar, Endowment would have to notice that her power is being used there.  And given that she's very non-intervention-on-other-planets, she would definitely withdraw her power.  The Shards aren't omnipotent, but they would notice significant amounts of their power draining away at regular intervals.  Brandon's talking about low levels of ambient power being used, not large amounts of investiture like a highstorm.

 

Brandon hasn't actually canonized the "breath leaking away" bit, and I think using that idea would require some retconning.  So he's going to have to be more firm in confirming that before we can use it as canon.

Additionally, Endowment's investiture takes the form of Breath, which anyone can hold and use.  Stormlight requires a Nahel bond or an Honorblade to use.  People who are not Radiants have been trying to use Stormlight to no avail.

The Stormfather is the Cognitive Shadow of Honor, plus a Splinter of his power.  He is the one that Invests the spheres as he passes.  I think he'd be aware of what and whom his power is coming from. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/25-paris-signing/#e1760

 

Thematically, introducing a fourth, unknown to all residents, Shard onto a planet that already has 3 Shards messing around with things, where the Shardholder herself is unaware that her power is being used, seems like a needless complication in an already complicated system.  I'm sorry, this is a cool theory, but there's really no solid proof of Stormlight being anything but H+C as all of the text heavily implies.

I'm not trying to bring Endowment into Stormlight Archive though. Just thinking that the Investiture "Stormlight" might have gotten assigned to Endowment on the Shattering.

Additionally, I'm not sure if Endowment would notice or - if she did - care. Brandon has said that even though Investiture is technically finite, it in practise isn't. So I don't see why Endowment would notice that 'her' Investiture is being used regularly on Roshar (either by the life there or to fuel Honor and Cultivation's magic) or, if she did, why she'd care. No one is intervening with one another as long as they don't change things; the Stormlight system simply happened to be in place already.

I guess that's also the problem with this theory. I posted it because I thought it was likely, but I don't feel like it's going to be important. Just an unimportant cosmere easter egg (compared to important cosmere easter eggs like Hoid and some worldhoppers). The only thing I could see it doing is creating another tie between Roshar and Nalthis, just like Nightblood, Vasher/Zahel, etc.

[Fezzik]

Then I guess we disagree on whether H&C or E is more likely. My reading puts occam's razor on the side of the shards already invested in the system.

[RShara]

5 minutes ago, Leyrann said:

I'm not trying to bring Endowment into Stormlight Archive though. Just thinking that the Investiture "Stormlight" might have gotten assigned to Endowment on the Shattering.

Additionally, I'm not sure if Endowment would notice or - if she did - care. Brandon has said that even though Investiture is technically finite, it in practise isn't. So I don't see why Endowment would notice that 'her' Investiture is being used regularly on Roshar (either by the life there or to fuel Honor and Cultivation's magic) or, if she did, why she'd care. No one is intervening with one another as long as they don't change things; the Stormlight system simply happened to be in place already.

I guess that's also the problem with this theory. I posted it because I thought it was likely, but I don't feel like it's going to be important. Just an unimportant cosmere easter egg (compared to important cosmere easter eggs like Hoid and some worldhoppers). The only thing I could see it doing is creating another tie between Roshar and Nalthis, just like Nightblood, Vasher/Zahel, etc.

Right but, the highstorms distribute a significant amount of investiture at regular intervals.  A little wouldn't be noticed, but a lot would be.  And the second letter in OB makes it clear that Endowment does not thing that the Shards should have *anything* to do with each other.  That would include having their power affect other planets.

I don't find introducing a 4th shard to be likely, sorry.

[Wandering Investor]

I think its more likely that Investiture can take on three forms, solid, liquid, and air. For solid and liquid examples we've seen, they're similar but different in color. Air is likely similar, especially considering the different colors that breath and stormlight take. This would mean that they're both investiture that has taken an air form. So the Shards settle down and release their investiture in the system and it manifest as air, but the source of the investiture and its nature are different. I also think the investiture type is determined by your spacial location, or subastral as Hoid put it. So if H&C moved to Scadrial, I predict their Investiture would take a physical form.

[Leyrann]

14 hours ago, Wandering Investor said:

I think its more likely that Investiture can take on three forms, solid, liquid, and air. For solid and liquid examples we've seen, they're similar but different in color. Air is likely similar, especially considering the different colors that breath and stormlight take. This would mean that they're both investiture that has taken an air form. So the Shards settle down and release their investiture in the system and it manifest as air, but the source of the investiture and its nature are different. I also think the investiture type is determined by your spacial location, or subastral as Hoid put it. So if H&C moved to Scadrial, I predict their Investiture would take a physical form.

I think there's more than just a 'visual' similarity between them, I think they also work really similar, while the mists (another case of gaseous Investiture) do not. The mists directly fuel Allomancy, while Stormlight and Breath enhance one's self (including perception and stuff) and can both be put into things, taken back from things, and be used to enhance other things in various ways.

[Wandering Investor]

3 hours ago, Leyrann said:

I think there's more than just a 'visual' similarity between them, I think they also work really similar, while the mists (another case of gaseous Investiture) do not. The mists directly fuel Allomancy, while Stormlight and Breath enhance one's self (including perception and stuff) and can both be put into things, taken back from things, and be used to enhance other things in various ways.

You are correct, I forgot about the mist. But I would still say that stormlight and breath function very differently. They're similar in that they're investiture that appears to be dependent of a shard, the big difference from the mist, but aside from that they're quite different. Even visually they look different considering their color patterns, and the way that breath flows and stormlight rises. Breath sticks to souls very well, while stormlight is extremely slippery and can only be truly contained in a perfect gem. And the enhancements they provide are entirely different and seem more based on the mechanisms people possess than the investiture itself. The soul can't naturally absorb stormlight and someone with breath can naturally aborb stormlight. That alone shows how different these investiture are even if they have a similar but not exactly alike visual appear

 

[ghajan monk]

If I understand the theory correctly, before the shattering Awakening and Stormlight were two parts of a single whole magical ecosystem. This power was then split by the shattering with part of it being taken up by Endowment and parts by Honor and Cultivation. Accordingly Endowment would play a passive role on Roshar similarly to Preservation passively preserving throughout the Cosmere. 

[RShara]

10 minutes ago, ghajan monk said:

If I understand the theory correctly, before the shattering Awakening and Stormlight were two parts of a single whole magical ecosystem. This power was then split by the shattering with part of it being taken up by Endowment and parts by Honor and Cultivation. Accordingly Endowment would play a passive role on Roshar similarly to Preservation passively preserving throughout the Cosmere. 

Right but Stormlight isn't passive

[Leyrann]

3 hours ago, ghajan monk said:

If I understand the theory correctly, before the shattering Awakening and Stormlight were two parts of a single whole magical ecosystem. This power was then split by the shattering with part of it being taken up by Endowment and parts by Honor and Cultivation. Accordingly Endowment would play a passive role on Roshar similarly to Preservation passively preserving throughout the Cosmere. 

Not quite. The theory is that only Stormlight existed before the Shattering (there is no reason to assume Awakening did already), and it got 'assigned' to Endowment when the Shattering happened because it's an Endowment kind of magic, which is also why it is similar to Breath, as that has been 'created' by Endowment.

[RShara]

1 hour ago, Leyrann said:

Not quite. The theory is that only Stormlight existed before the Shattering (there is no reason to assume Awakening did already), and it got 'assigned' to Endowment when the Shattering happened because it's an Endowment kind of magic, which is also why it is similar to Breath, as that has been 'created' by Endowment.

The only similarity between Breath and Stormlight is that they're both the vapor form of investiture.  Their effects, the way they stick and leak, how they're received and given are completely different. 

Edit:  Sorry if this is blunt, but I need to get this out of my head before I can sleep .  In no particular order...

 

1. Stormlight, by it's nature, wants to be used, run out, leak, and return to the cycle (similar to a water cycle).  Breath, Endowment's investiture, wants to stick around, stay where it's put.
2. While Adonalsium's investiture was parceled out, and the Vessels aren't aware of every little bit of their power that's being used across the Cosmere, Stormlight is a significant chunk of investiture.  I don't see how Endowment could not realize such a large chunk of her power is missing.
3. Related to 2, from the Letter in Oathbringer, Endowment is very against involving or interfering in any other Shard's domain.  It would be very unlikely for her to allow her power to be used on another planet, given how she reacted to even having Aona and Skai on the same planet.
4. The Stormfather is the method by which Stormlight enters the Physical Realm.  How would he be able to distribute Endowment's investiture, given that he is the Cognitive Shadow of Honor, as well as a Splinter and Sliver of Honor?  He has zero connection to Endowment.
5. Related to 4, shouldn't the Stormfather know where the power he's distributing comes from?
6. While the highstorms before the Shattering may or may not have contained any of Endowment's investiture, the highstorms and stormlight have been co-opted by Honor and Cultivation, and are different than what they were pre-shattering.  Even if it had been comprised of Endowment's investiture before, it's not now.
7. The Nahel spren are mixes of Honor and Cultivation's investiture.  When highstorms pass over in the CR, they are refreshed by it.  This strongly implies that Stormlight is of Honor and Cultivation, not Endowment, as they would take no sustenance from Endowment's investiture.
8. The perpendicularity that moves around in the highstorms is Honor's perpendicularity.  Not Endowment's.
9. If stormlight were from Endowment, how would Dalinar have used Honor's perpendicularity to recharge spheres with stormlight?  If it weren't Honor's perpendicularity, how would Dalinar, bonded to the Stormfather, have opened Endowment's perpendicularity?
10. Stormlight needs to be taken in.  It's not given, except for when used for Lashing or some other surge.  Breath needs to be given, or endowed.  You can't take Breath.  This makes sense, since Endowment is about Giving.  Stormlight has very little Giving involved.
11. Related to 10, Breath doesn't heal you.  If you have enough of it, you can keep from getting sick, and make it harder to be poisoned, but it doesn't heal.  Unless it's a Divine Breath.  And that Divine Breath has to be given away.  It doesn't heal the person holding it until it's given up with Intent.  This fits with Endowment and is opposite to how Stormlight works (except for the specific surge of Regrowth).
12. Vasher is one of the most knowledgable people in the Cosmere when it comes to Breath and Awakening.  Yet he hasn't been able to figure out how to use Stormlight to Awaken.  If Stormlight were Endowment's investiture, shouldn't he have been able to figure this out by now?
13. Related to 12, shouldn't Vasher and Vivenna recognize the investiture as Endowment's rather than Honor's?
14. Thematically, having a fourth Shard's power involved in absentia in an already tense and crowded situation is a needless complication. 
15. Thematically, Brandon has said that the greater Cosmere is going to remain in the background except for cameos and Easter eggs.  Having another Shard's power, from another planet, involved on Roshar to such a huge extent is not something he'd be willing to do.  And having stormlight be Endowment's investiture, but unexplained as such, isn't the type of worldbuilding he does.

 

Whew.  That was really long, but now I can sleep in peace.   Sorry, I just find this theory extremely unlikely, and my OCD compels me to explain all of my reasoning before I can rest properly.

Edited January 21, 2018 by RShara

[Isilel]

I agree with everything you have said re: stormlight. Honestly, I don't even see how the idea that it could belong to any other Shard than Honor (with maaaayyybe some hint of Cultivation. Or not) can be anything but illogical and a contradiction of the text. Sorry, proponents.

OTOH, I disagree with these statements:

3 hours ago, RShara said:

Related to 2, from the Letter in Oathbringer, Endowment is very against involving or interfering in any other Shard's domain.  It would be very unlikely for her to allow her power to be used on another planet, given how she reacted to even having Aona and Skai on the same planet.

So, are we supposed to think it a pure coincidence that an early batch of Returned, a group of 5, none of whom have seemingly achieved the goal of their Return despite living for centuries, has been drawn to Roshar and inspired by their experiences there to invent and create various things that could potentially significantly affect the latest conflict with Odium? Is it completely by chance, that one of them and their greatest and most dangerous creation are on Roshar _now_? That the mechanics of making a toned down-version of an Awakened blade, possibly refined by another of the 5 Scholars, has been already shared with the honorspren? Particularly, given that the way the Return operates is that Endowment shows a selected soul a possible future catastrophe that they might be able to prevent, and while they forget the main  reason for their Return until shortly before they can act on it, it subtly affects their Returned lives?

IMHO, all of the above points at something very different - namely, that Endowment foresaw the danger several centuries earlier and has taken steps to involve herself carefully and subtly, but doesn't feel like sharing her intentions with Hoid. Likely for a good reason.

 

3 hours ago, RShara said:

Thematically, Brandon has said that the greater Cosmere is going to remain in the background except for cameos and Easter eggs.  Having another Shard's power, from another planet, involved on Roshar to such a huge extent is not something he'd be willing to do.  And having stormlight be Endowment's investiture, but unexplained as such, isn't the type of worldbuilding he does.

How is it even possible anymore? Revelations about the origin of humans and the reasons for the Recreance have put existence of other worlds and mass worldhopping front and center of Stormlight Archive. This knowledge is now widespread on Roshar - it is no longer a carefully guarded secret of privileged few like on the other Cosmere worlds. And Warbreaker was specifically written to provide background for 2 SA characters - presumably, characters that are going to be very important in some ways and whose otherworldly abilities are going to be crucial. There is a WoB that Vasher hasn't figured out how to Awaken with stormlight _yet_ - which is a pretty strong hint that he is going to, during the series. Promised Herald flashbacks in the second pentology will certainly feature Braize. So, yea, I imagine that other worlds of  Roshar system and Nalthis, or at least some Nalthians with Awakening, are going to feature relatively prominently. The rest, not so much.

Even so, I have to wonder _why_ people like Felt from Scadrial (and his wife?) waste years serving first in Dalinar's bodyguard (during his visit to the Nightwatcher) and then among his chasm-jumping scouts (in WoR, IIRC). Did Hoid's correspondence with Sazed take place years before Gavilar's death, perhaps, and prompted Harmony to send some spies to Roshar?