thek9

WOB has disclaimed this one. Brandon said "Domi" was the Korathi word for God, and that the relationship to the word Dominion was purely coincidental.

I'm sure Hoid thinks himself the funniest.

Which begs the question, how does he have BOTH Feruchemy and Allomancy? Did he previously eat a different bead of Lerasium, and go back for seconds? Or perhaps, he already was somehow both (whether through previous beads or some other means) and by Brandon saying that he may not have used the bead in the way we expect, he did something totally different with it. Perhaps he wanted to use it to rewrite his spirit web for access to some other magic system, or to undo whatever prevents him from harming people. Or maybe he just has hemalurgic spikes that give him his Feruchemy and/or Allomancy abilities. Lots of possibilities.

WoB is that shardic power could be reconstituted. By implication, this would include Adonalsium itself. http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=977#3 http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=948#2

While I would tend to agree with the Ferruchemy interpretation, rather than the shard interpretation of Fortune, this would make an awesome book. A shard of Randomness or perhaps Uncertainty that grants random powers to random people at random times. Would love to see Brandon write that one.

Bottled stormlight? Liquiefied breath? These things may manifest differently in the cognitive realm, so perhaps do not look exactly like their physical counterparts.

The audiobook pronounces it in the later fashion. I don't know if he did in this case, but Brandon has indicated that he generally does try to work with the narrators to ensure correct pronunciation in his books.

Obviously, Dawnslight is Hoid. He stays around some important events, mostly observing, but also helping in an indirect way, then mysteriously vanishes when that particular crisis is over (Babilar). Sure, Reckoners isn't Cosmere, but Hoid would never let a simple WoB keep him from popping into an alternate universe!

This seems pretty crazy powerful to me. Essentially ANY useful item that you happen to need at the moment, you have. If Kaladin/Shallan realize that, watch out! Or worse yet, Lift... I would think that you could just fall in a shardpool accidentally, although who knows where you'd end up without specific intent.

That's exactly what I'm saying.... there can be lots of crossover without it being necessary to have read the other books. Hoid being on Braize could be a big RAFO for the third Mistborn trilogy, without it requiring you to read the Stormlight Archive at all. So you might miss out on the cool Braize Stormlight Archive references if you don't, but it won't affect your ability to understand the main plotline, which might not even mention Roshar. Brandon said it was a big RAFO, but didn't say for which series it is a big RAFO. Maybe it's such a big RAFO precisely because it is a RAFO for a much later series (one which is supposed to involve Hoid as a main character).

This is not necessarily true for later books. Brandon has stated that there will be more crossover later, and the 3rd Mistborn Trilogy does involve travel between worlds, so it may apply then, but not be significant to the Stormlight Archive. I like this theory... I'm kind of thinking that Hoid may have somehow swapped or more likely, orchestrated someone else into swapping a fake Taln for the real one, perhaps causing Odium to void the Oathpact by not returning the real Taln. So Odium puts all of the Final Desolation steps into motion, but in fact, he's causing himself to forfeit by breaking the rules of the Oathpact (that the Heralds must be returned to Roshar to have a Desolation occur), and perhaps the real Taln is still hiding out in a false identity on Braize somewhere.

That's a neat theory, although I'm not sure about Scadrial as an example – Ruin and Preservation never were splintered, and the Steel Inquisitors were using Preservation's allomancy to support Ruin's intent. I agree that it probably wasn't just a matter of, as Darnam so succinctly put it, Odium saying, "You see that Shard over there? He says you're fat." I suspect that Odium was more crafty and subtle, and probably manipulated world events somehow to promote this conflict. Hopefully Elantris 2 will give us some more insights, although it would be better if we could see pre-shattering Sel.

Remember also that Shallan's father was potentially being set up by the Ghostbloods to become Highprince of Veden. This kind of suggests that Mr. T/The Ghostbloods may be trying to install leaders that support their cause across Roshar. Perhaps the assassinations are intended to open positions for their people, in addition to weakening nations that they intend to conquer or destroy.

Ok, sorry, it appears I was incorrect about the polar opposite quote that I remembered–I think I may have misread a reader's response post as WoB. I still don't really see Dominion and Devotion as polar opposites, though, more like a complementary pair. Nonetheless, I don't think whether or not they are polar opposites ultimately affects the validity of the theory. In fact, if they were already opposite each other, it would presumably be even easier for Odium to manipulate events such that the Shards would destroy each other, by enhancing or playing on this opposition.

Certainly, they are related to each other, but I wouldn't exactly call them opposites, at least not in the Ruin/Preservation sense. But regardless, I don't think it really matters whether you consider them complements or opposites or something else, in any of those cases Odium could still provoke, start, and/or enhance conflict between them. As far as the letter goes, what it doesn't say (that Odium himself killed Aona/Skai directly–which wouldn't have had to happen if Odium just provoked/tricked them into killing each other) is exactly what I was referring to. Sure, anything could be a false trail, but the wording is suspicious. Furthermore, the letter states that it was "Presumably to prevent anyone from rising up to challenge Rayse." This could suggest that Dominion and Devotion working together would have been a threat to Rayse (which would imply that Dominion and Devotion did not have to be at each other's throats) or that someone might potentially have picked up both Shards. Maybe it's a bit of a stretch and I'm over-reading, but it is suggestive. EDIT: Removed incorrectly remembered quote reference