Zenith

Going through WoR again, I found myself questioning what exactly the Adhesion surge does, as it seemed a little...underwhelming at the time. We know the Windrunner set of powers comes from a combination of Gravitation and Adhesion, the Full Lashing in particular being a direct result of Adhesion (according to The Coppermind, anyway). Let's break down what we know about the Full Lashing - 1: By pooling Stormlight into an area the user can make things stick there. This bond is incredibly strong - most materials will break before the bond will (according to the Ars Arcanum, which is not infallable, (due to being written in-universe) but really trustworthy) 2: The bond is limited by the amount of Stormlight put into it. That's all we really get from the Windrunners for Adhesion...but we know each Surge belongs to two orders, so I took the liberty of looking up the other order that has Adhesion, and I was surprised - the Bondsmiths. Of course, we don't know that much about the Bondsmiths, but we can speculate. Many guess that the Bondsmiths create Shardplate, and I'm inclined to agree. Assuming all Bondsmiths bond to extremely powerful spren such as the Stormfather, I would tenatively guess that their surges are more powerful than the surges of other orders, due to their spren being much more powerful. Now, what does this have to do with Adhesion? Well, I think a combination of an incredibly powerful Full Lashing and some friction manipulation allows Bondsmiths to create Shardplate. Shardplate needs Stormlight to run, and adheres to the user's body and other pieces of shardplate, suggesting that a Full Lashing might be used to create it. In addition, Shardplate becomes weaker after other pieces are broken, but does not fall off the user without help. The Shardplate itself breaks before the bond between the other pieces does. Of course, this is all just speculation, but I've got even more speculation to back it up. Let's look at the attributes of the heralds who patron the orders. Jezrien - the Windrunner's patron - is associated with Protecting and Leading.Ishar - patron of the Bondsmiths - is associated with Pious and Guiding. What do these two patrons have in common? Leadership attributes, specifically Leading and Guiding. What am I getting at? Squires. The windrunners had an unusual amount of squires (look at Kaladin - he made squires out of most of Bridge Four, and I think he was actually in the process of doing that to Elhokar too (due to him stopping seeing Cryptics after he starts becoming aware of and looking up to Kaladin)), and I'm not sure how many the Bondsmiths would have, but Dalinar is a Highprince and leads a great number of people. I would like to suggest that Adhesion might have something to do with how many squires an order can have. Getting squires might be like the squires adhering to the main Knight Radiant, and isn't exactly out of line with what else is shown of Knight Radiant abilities. Look at the Lightweavers: From In-universe Words of Radiance (emphasis mine) - this implies that most, if not all, Lightweavers had some sub-powers similar to Shallan's supernaturally good memory. I don't think it would be too unusual for the Order or Surge (not sure which), to grant some other abilities not directly associated with the usage of stormlight. Anyway, I've been going on for far too long and that's just a theory of mine. Thoughts?

Well, this thread has drawn me out of my long semi-lurk A couple of thoughts: (WoR Spoilers): I don't think Jasnah's Atheism holds any less weight because of the Shards. Shards are certainly not gods imo, just beings of tremendous power. Even Adonalsium was not a god, as something was able to shatter him, and if his shards are any indication, his was not omniscient or omnipotent. Shards such as Odium can't kill always kill someone directly (Hoid is a good example of this), nor can they always direectly influence the physical world. They have vulnerabilities, and are often simplistic by nature (their intent or predominate emotion (Honor, Ruin, Preservation etc) overpowers all other feelings to the point that they can't think of much else. Ati (Ruin's Shardholder), was kind and generous, according to Hoid, and he tried to destroy an entire world. Even Harmony is influenced in such a way that he finds it hard to act sometimes. Magic is often tied to religion not because religion = Magic, but because Magic brings a supernatural power not available to others. The Returned and Elantrians were worshipped because of the way they came to be; Returned literally come back to life after being killed, and Elantrians are made by a secret process in the night that makes them glow and able to perform magic. The Returned warp color around them, never age, never get ill, and are usually inhumanely attractive and strong. Elantrians can make food from nothing, teleport, create supernatural lighting, etc. Alloy of Law Scadrial shows that magic and religion are not forcably linked. The religion there is based off of events from the original trilogy, and while those events involve magic, the religion is more because of charisma, planning, etc. Magic has become everyday to the people, and they just don't hold it in the same light as it once was. ...I've rambled waaay to much. Anyway, yeah, that's what I think

Aons 6 Breath 2 Ferring 16 Investiture 7 Lerasium 10 Preservation 10 Miles 20 Kelsier 20

Hallandren 9 Idris 8 Thaylenah 13 Alethkar 10 Herdaz 13 Jah Keved 11 Azir 10 Shinovar 6 Shinovar is messed up. The Final Empire 10 Terris 11 AOL Empire/ Elendel Basin 10 Duladel 10 Teod 8 Arelon 8 The Rose Empire 9 Hushlands 5 Nalhalla 8 Fractured States 12 United Isles 10 I like The Rithmatist. Sue me

Hallandren 9 Idris 10 Thaylenah 10 Alethkar 10 Herdaz 9 Jah Keved 11 Azir 10 Shinovar 8 The Final Empire 16 Terris 11 The New Empire 10 Fjorden 7 Duladel 10 Teod 10 Arelon 8 The Rose Empire 9 Hushlands 7 Nalhalla 10 Newcago 0 Good novel setting, terrible country Fractured States 10 United Isles 9

Kobold King 13 Quiver 1 Gamma Fiend 4 WeiryWriter 8 Fifth of Daybreak 7 LeftVash 15 Tempus 8 Edgedancer 10 Shivertongue 10 Mailliw73 5 The Only Joe 14 PorridgeBrick 15 GreyPilgrim 13 Voidus 20 Observer 20 TwiLyghtSansSparkles 20

Kobold King 11 Swimmingly 10 Chaos 8 Argent 10 FeatherWriter 10 Kurkistan 8 Awesomeness Summoned 10 Moogle 10 Aether 10 Quiver 10 TwiLyghtSansSparkles 10 Delightful 8 Observer 11 Despite other rivalries in Hurt 'n' heal books, still a friend. Windrunner 7 Gamma Fiend 10 WeiryWriter 10 Fifth of Daybreak 10 Metacognition 10 LeftVash 10 Shardlet 10 Tempus 10 Edgedancer 10 Shivertongue 10 Mailliw73 8 lord Claincy Ffnord 10 Voidus 10 The Only Joe 12 RShara 4 Apparently a good person to get now so why not. PorridgeBrick 11 GreyPilgrim 10

Warbreaker 2 Alcatraz vs The Evil Librarians 11 Alcatraz vs The Shattered Lenses 6 Alcatraz vs The Knights of Crystallia 10 Legion 6 ....Fine, I'm bringing you down.

The Way of Kings 2 Warbreaker 3 Alcatraz vs The Evil Librarians 10 Alcatraz vs The Shattered Lenses 6 (I'm sorry, I still love you Alcatraz series...) Alcatraz vs The Knights of Crystallia 10 Legion 6

The Way of Kings 3 Warbreaker 2 Alcatraz vs The Evil Librarians 10 Alcatraz vs The Shattered Lenses 8 Alcatraz vs The Knights of Crystallia 10 Legion 6 Fixed the score

The Way of Kings 7 The Hero of Ages 0 Kill it! NOW! Warbreaker 5 Alcatraz vs The Evil Librarians 10 Alcatraz vs The Shattered Lenses 8 Alcatraz vs The Knights of Crystallia 10 Legion 6 Edit: Ok, seriously, stop dropping these. Final Empire Alloy of Law

The Way of Kings 5 The Hero of Ages 3 Warbreaker 5 Alcatraz vs The Evil Librarians 10 Alcatraz vs The Shattered Lenses 8 Alcatraz vs The Knights of Crystallia 10 Legion 6

The Way of Kings 10 The Hero of Ages 2 Warbreaker 5 Alcatraz vs The Evil Librarians 10 Alcatraz vs The Shattered Lenses 8 Alcatraz vs The Knights of Crystallia 10 Legion 6 It's about time... Final Empire Alloy of Law

The Way of Kings 12 The Hero of Ages 4 Warbreaker 5 Alcatraz vs The Evil Librarians 10 Alcatraz vs The Shattered Lenses 8 Alcatraz vs The Knights of Crystallia 10 Legion 6

Mailiw, I made some mistakes, and fixed them. Here's the current list (with your changes) The Way of Kings 12 The Hero of Ages 7 Warbreaker 5 Alcatraz vs The Evil Librarians 10 Alcatraz vs The Shattered Lenses 8 Alcatraz vs The Knights of Crystallia 10 Legion 6