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TomR

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TomR last won the day on March 9 2014

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  1. Wayne's ability to put himself in other people's shoes and imitate them seems a likely candidate. The combination is meant to provide more subtle abilities.
  2. It references "the times of Madasa," so at that point it's definitely making a historical reference. When looking at all the quotes, each seems to have a context of a certain time. You're right, though, it doesn't mean there weren't two more out in the world away from Urithiru, but there may have only been one total, or there may have been four. I like the three spren theory, and I'm as guilty of the assumption as anyone, but we've only got one paragraph where we've conflated three Bondsmiths being "not uncommon" with three being a fixed number and "nor did they seek to increase this by great bounds" with "never increased this number." I'm not completely ready to throw out the three spren theory, but this did make me think there could be other possibilities.
  3. I think you may be right about the limit. Words of Radiance is often presented as a history, so the "numbers only three" could very well be referring to a time period rather than an actual upper bound; the fact that it immediately follows that by referencing a time when there was only one Bondsmith makes me think you're on to something. I'm less certain that "spren was" refers to a singular spren rather than a class of spren (I was thinking that there might be more than one of what Eshonai called a "Rider" since she talks about the Stormfather as "this Rider" and that the Bondsmiths were linking to them), but I can see the argument. Upvote.
  4. I thought he was worldhopping through the Cognitive Realm, which he's entering and leaving through Shardpools. The Cognitive Realm's defined by thinking creatures, so the void of space where nothing thinking exists effectively becomes zero, or near zero, distance, so any changing distance doesn't matter so much.
  5. I don't know. I suspect they will stick to their convictions.
  6. The assumption would be that all spren are a mixture of Honor and Cultivation, with even the most Cultivationy still having some Honor and the most Honory still having some Cultivation, so Surgebinding would comes from this Honor side. That's still basically my opinion. Given: Honorblades give access to the full range of Surgebinding. Assumption: Honorblades are purely of Honor. Conclusion: Cultivation is not needed to access the Surges. Surgebinding is Honor's. So that at least is my chain of logic, even though I can see ways people may disagree. Regardless, the overall theory has a few more issues now that I've read WOR and a few of the more recent signing reports. I'm sure I'll be rethinking it many times until we get all the answers.
  7. I said "didn't have them," not "couldn't have them." We know some orders were individualistic, they didn't act as teams. So it's not a big stretch to assume some orders, as orders, weren't running around with squires. Again, I'm not wondering about who had the ability, I'm speculating who used the ability. The Bondsmiths and Truthwatchers, given the descriptions we have of them in the other epigraphs, seem to me to be more likely to be individualistic orders. For size mattering, it's not about any order's current size, but their size when the Radiants were at full strength. If Teft's right when he says, "From what I can guess, it seems that the orders of the Knights Radiant were made up of more than just the knights themselves” (WOR 1047)," then the squires appear to be counted in the order. I don't know, though, maybe one or two of the three members of the Bondsmiths were squires, or it could be that the Bondsmiths numbered only three plus their fifty squires.
  8. So Windrunners had squires, and Dustbringers seem like a safe bet. Of the other orders, I'll guess that Truthwatchers and Bondsmiths didn't have them. Truthwatchers since they were isolated by their secrecy, Bondsmiths since they were such a small order. Hard to guess how the others broke down, though it does look like Shallan has a proto-squire group in her soldiers.
  9. I understand what you're saying, and I get that you're not trying to marginalize any voices. This is starting to feel pretty close to a touchy topic, so I'll leave the real life stuff at that. Not exactly. I do get where you're coming from, but... First, take the examples. I think it's safe to assume Nightblood can use Stormlight instead of Breath or it's pretty much worthless. Hoid is manipulating characters and events to turn Roshar into a bullet aimed at Rayse, which is significant but probably not very important until we get to the second five books. Until then, Hoid is just playing the part of Trickster-as-Spiritual-Guide without being central to anything himself. Within the first five books, however, I believe "who Shallan's crushing on harder" will have greater importance than either of those two questions. Love triangles are used so often for a reason. Shallan developing feelings for both Adolin and Kaladin could divide Shallan, Kaladin, and the Kholins. Shallan/Kaladin as Guinevere/Lancelot: even if a split doesn't go as far as the fall of Camelot, it's still a big deal. Second, again, talking about one thing (e.g. relationships) doesn't actually prevent talking about others (e.g. Hoid and Nighblood). The forums cover all sorts of topics, and if someone feels that a point has been missed, they can add a post or start a new topic and feel confident that someone will see it and respond. Even if some topics get more traffic, others still get plenty of attention. Finally, when you get down to it, none of this is exactly imperative. Speculating's fun-- well, at least I enjoy it. The forums are a great resource and a place where people passionate about a shared interest can exchange thoughts and ideas. But eventually all the books will come out, and we'll have all the answers. Given that, I don't think ranking importance is all that important
  10. We see a female Stoneward in one of Dalinar's visions in book 1. Though if Taln doesn't get his Honorblade back, it would be funny if he got a spren and become a Stoneward People who might feel that their voices have been marginalized in society care about positive representations of their own viewpoints. However, respectfully, I don't see how discussions about sexuality mean anyone's going to overlook "more important stuff." That's a false choice-- it's not like speculating about one thing renders you unable to speculate about any others. It's just one more thing about the books that some people enjoy talking about. When I saw discussion of the ten thrones in Urithiru, I did wonder if they were for ten Radiants on a council overseeing the city or if they were a meeting place for the kings of the ten Silver Kingdoms. Some orders I could see with a Head Radiant (we know Windrunners had a hierarchy), but I'm not sure if all of them would, or whether in some cases it wouldn't be more than nominal if they did.
  11. I've seen it spelled both as sopaipilla or sopapilla (Spanish double-L, pronounced like a consonantal Y). In the US, it's pretty common in the southwest, Texas and the four corners in particular. Kind of a pastry, fried dough with stuff in the middle. With honey, they were kind of a dessert when I was a kid living in Albuquerque.
  12. I don't think I said there was one, just that for Orders with access to those Surges I only see one big advantage to a riding animal (saving Stormlight during non-emergency travel). Now that I think about it, though, I guess whether you could Lash or Transport them depends on if Ryshadiums' Investiture interferes with Surgebinding. I have no idea if they can contribute Stormlight or increase efficiency -- IMO that might make them a little too Companion-esque. Sidenote: I wonder if the "shad" in Ryshadium has any etymological link to the "shad" in Shadesmar.
  13. You probably wouldn't for the most part. I would imagine that most Knights with the Gravitation or Transportation Surges generally would use those instead of a horse. It's possibly the Stonewards had access to something that let them travel faster than normal, too, since at Feverstone Keep they were about able to keep up with the Windrunners, something tied to Cohesion or Tension or a mixture of the two. However, that still leaves half the orders without those abilities, so Ryshadium would be useful. The other advantage of Ryshadium is that they don't use Stormlight. If a Windrunner needs to go somewhere when it isn't an emergency, they could take a Ryshadium and keep their infused gemstones for later. I would think that would be especially important during a Weeping.
  14. I don't think it's just that Vasher's Returned. Every time someone holds Nightblood, they seem to end up shoving Nightblood through their own chest.
  15. Not really of Honor, according to Syl: Honor does say he has some limited capacity for precognition at the end of book 1, but based on that quote I think it's safe to assume he doesn't provide the ability to others. Cultivation, though, yes.
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