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So I spotted the following in the Q&A with Brandon Sanderson topic, and kind of ran a bit with it... Grouping the Shards in my head. Just going to throw it out there to see what people think... Good question. ... RAFO Groupings: Like with the Allomantic Metals, I have grouped the Shards in several different ways. Four categories, three of which I am content with, Internal and External... and I am missing the fourth kind of grouping... but it works like this.. Internal/External: Internal Shards: These are generally characteristics that people show, or about the self. Examples of this would be Honour or Survival (one of the Shards just wants to survive, was something Sanderson said). External Shards: These are about doing things to others. Odium, Dominion, Endowment, Preservation are all about the other. The Four Categories: Growth: These are all about creation and destruction. Ruin and Cultivation are perfect examples of this, destroying other things, or prompting other things to grow. Emotion: These are all about the base emotions currently. Odium and Devotion are perfect examples of this, hating others or loving others. Control: These are about control... Or lack of maybe. Dominion, the control of others... and possibly Honour, the control of self (not certain, it doesn't quite fit the bill) I am unsure how to label the last category, but its about either keeping things as they are, or changing them through give/take... The Last Division: I am unsure how else to divide them... But it does seem like there is a selfless and a non-selfless split. Giving compared to keeping. Hating compared to loving. Destroying compared to creating. Lack of control instead of control. See the attached file for the current image. Anyway, would certainly be glad to hear what you think about it. Youngy.

Nice work, Skaa (the user, I'm not calling Peter a serf).

I looked around for a while but did not see anyone put this idea forward except in tangent posts. There were only two of those that I found. In fact, a lot of people have posted saying explicitly that Kaladin does not feel the Thrill as support for the point they are making. I've tossed around a few ideas before, but this is my <trumpet fanfare> First Theory! So, first off, obviously, Kaladin is never declared to expressly feel "the Thrill". However, we must remember that this is from Kaladin's POV and if he has never heard of the concept/phenomenon/term "the Thrill", then he would not think in terms of "the Thrill". So, as a foundational assumption, the Thrill is not a wide-spread phenomenon particularly among darkeyes. If lighteyes aren't overly keen on talking about it with one another (as appears to be the case), they sure as heck aren't going to discuss it with many darkeyes. "Get on with it!", you shout. Ok, I will. Let's describe what we know about the Thrill. All citations in this post are from the US hardcover edition. All these descriptions of the Thrill are given to us by Dalinar. pg. 298, paragraph 2 - "pain evaporating" pg. 299, paragraph 6 - "everything seemed to become clearer, crisper. His muscles moved easily; he breathed more deeply. He came alive." [emphasis original] pg. 380, paragraphs 3 and 5- "[the Thrill is] sweet." - "The Thrill consumed Dalinar, giving him strength focus, and power. The glory of the battle grew grand." pg. 415, paragraph 7 - "the Thrill--the enjoyment and longing for war" pg. 777, paragraphs 1 and 4 - "the Thrill pulsing within him" (Isomere should like this one) - "The Thrill excited him, strengthened him". pg. 780, paragraph 5 - "he felt...displeasure at the Thrill. Surely these Parshendi...deserved respect, not glee, as they were slaughtered." pg. 781, paragraph 2 - "He felt strong again, passion for battle returning to him". pg. 785, paragraph 3 - "He nearly choked on it, the joy, the pleasure, the desire." pg. 900, paragraphs 2 and 3 - "the Thrill bubbled within. It was power. Strength greater than Shardplate. Vitality greater than youth. Skill greater than a lifetime of practice. A fever of power." - "This was life. This was control." Alright. There are other references, but these describe what the Thrill feels like to Dalinar. He clearly feels it intensly when it comes on him. We must remember that he is a warrior beyond compare, even among the Alethi, the Blackthorn. Yoda would likely say "the Thrill is strong with this one." And I think he would be right. I suspect that the Thrill is heightened in its effect with Dalinar, as compared to other Alethi, judging by some of his descriptions. That being said, now on to Kaladin. Remember him? This is a theory about Kaladin. We have much less battle screen-time with Kaladin than we do with Dalinar. So, not surprisingly, we have less description about how Kaladin feels during battle. Let's go back about 7 years to when Kaladin first hefts a quarterstaff <wavy line fade-out to page 254, paragraph near the bottom>. - "Kal growled in anger and pain, snatching the quarterstaff from the ground and leaping at Jost...Something changed in that moment. Kal felt an energy as he held the weapon, an excitement that washed away his pain...the length of wood felt right in his fingers. He was amazed by how wonderful the moment felt." While the above quote may adequately be described as an adrenaline rush, it has a familiar ring to it. pg. 668, 3rd paragraph from the bottom - "He was like water running down a hill, flowing, always moving. Spearheads flashed in the air around him...Not one hit him. He could not be stopped, not when he felt like this. When he had the energy of defending the fallen, the power of standing to protect one of his men." It goes on to mention an odd breeze that enveloped him where there had been no breeze before. Now, we begin to enter into complications with Syl muddying the waters here since I believe that some of the effects may be resulting from her (especially the breeze). However, there is no indication of consumption of stormlight at this point, so I think any external benefit to Kaladin is minimal. I think it is more Syl being attracted to Kaladin and exulting in his honorable actions. pg. 932, 1st paragraph after the dots - "For the first time in many, many months Kaladin felt fully awake and alive. The beauty of the spear, whistling in the air. The unity of body and mind, hands and feet reacting instantly, faster than thoughts could be formed. The clarity and familiarity of old spear forms...His weapon was an extension of himself...with stormlight making and ecstatic pulse within him, he felt a rhythm to the battle." A few paragraphs further - "Killing. Slaughtering. blood flew in the air and the dying groaned at his feet...They were the enemy. Yet the sheer glory of what he did seemed at odds with the desolation he caused. He was protecting. He was saving. Yet he was killing. How could something so terrible be so beautiful at the same time?" Okay, in the last quote, Kaladin is in full stormlight mode. There will be an effect of the stormilight on the things he feels, I presume. But, the similarities in Dalinar's and Kaladin's feelings are clear. Now, there has been much theorizing on whether the Thrill is bad or good. I think there is a Good Thrill and a Bad Thrill. Kaladin's flashback scene would be Bad Thrill (anger is the driving force), the other two are Good Thrill (defending and protecting is the driving force). Most of Dalinar's thrill is Bad Thrill (conquest is the driving force). At the conclusion of the Battle of the Tower, Dalinar's Thrill is the Good Thrill (driven by the need to save his soldiers and to live). I think it is notable that this Thrill appears to be the most powerful Thrill he describes in the book. So, I know this post is massive, but there is my argument that Kaladin feels the Thrill. What do you guys think?

Spoilers Basic theory is that every bind point set is represented by a Triangles. These are the reference images (note i made these images) http://www.weebly.com/uploads/1/4/9/0/14907026/1369915093.png 9 pointer http://rithmantics.weebly.com/uploads/1/4/9/0/14907026/6701685_orig.png 6 pointer http://rithmantics.weebly.com/uploads/1/4/9/0/14907026/4716856_orig.png 4 pointer Edit: An important assumption is that two point circles are just incomplete six or four pointed circles, Edit:Two point circles can be made by (0,180,0) triangles. credited to happyman First lets look at a four pointer, a square can be made by drawing a circle through any triangle, my example is a 45/45/90 because it is easy to find the circle. A six pointer can be made by using the altitudes of an equilateral triangle and the mid points. The nine pointer is were this theory comes from. the nine point definotion, which is , the nine point circle is drawn on an acute triangle, the points on the nine point circle are determined by three things, the mid point of each side, the intersection of the altitude of each side and the side, and the intersection of the resulting circle and the altitude. All of these circles an be made by placing them on a triangle and marking the bind points. This also explains why there are no five point, seven point or eight point circles. because the bind points can not be covered by any triangle. i assume that if you want a three point you can just make a six point using every other bind point.

It is the first book, but Brandon and Peter aren't sure if the series is going to have two or three books in it (at least, they weren't the last time I heard of it.)

So I'm doing an actual re-read of The Way of Kings, since the last few times I've listened to it on audiobook. Gives me time to analyze sentences to see if there are things I missed in the audiobooks. Well there was something I caught, and I don't believe I've seen it mentioned before. This is in Ch. 11, Location 2834 of 18313 on my e-book. A scene with Kaladin and Syl at the Honor Chasm. "They would have died more quickly without you. You made it so they had a family in the army. I remember their gratitude. It's what drew me in the first place..." (Emphasis is mine) IIRC, it's been said there are different general types of spren. Honorspren, I believe, are different from flamespren, painspren, and others. I think that's generally accepted at this point. The regular type of spren, to me, are like a manifestations of a strong concept that "bleeds through" from the cognitive realm to the physical realm. But Honor is a bit of an abstract concept compared to fire, pain, or fear. From what I've seen, Honorspren attach to one person and draws on their physical pressence to enhance it's cognitive pressence in the world. But what initially attracts the Honorspren? It's obviously not when one person thinks everything they do is honorable, because then anyone who thinks they're honorable would attract an Honorspren. I believe this is a significant difference between Honorspren and the other regular types of spren. I believe they are drawn to a certain person when a large number of other individuals see that one person is acting honorably. Kaladin's charisma and honorable actions make those around him better people, and in turn they think of him as a prime example of what an "honorable" person should be like. It's almost like a pre-requisite. If other people don't see you as honorable, then it would be impossible to attract an Honorspren to yourself. As I'm typing this, it really reminds me of a sort of natural selection. Spren are probably a natural phenomena created by the Shards that inhabit that world. The world itself is filled with ideas, and spren are attracted to those ideas. So naturally, one person who everyone else considers as Honorable, and the best of men, would be rewarded with powers to help mankind. Let me know what you guys think. Feel free to poke holes in this, or tell me this idea is "so last friday".

EDIT: Crapflapnasty!, this post was supposed to go in as an edit to the previous post, not a double post. Sorry. I suspect that Syl is at least more Honor. Spren that are obviously, to me, more Cultivation would be the spren which bod to the greatshells enabling them to grow to larger sizes than would be normally physically possible (i.e., chasmfiends, , etc.). Edit: The above examples are only referring to spren that act to cause an actual effect rather than simply a manifestation. In the "Writing for Charity" thread, link provided courtesy of Skaa (see above), Brandon says: So it appears that spren, whether they are acting spren or just manifesting spren, are all of Honor or Cultivation. Though, perhaps some notable spren, which will be seen by Dalinar in WoR, have been corrupted by Odium. It also appears that the spren communicate and debate with one another (factions?). It also seems that honorspren is not a cut and dry designation and several varying types of spren see themselves as 'honorspren' in contrast to other spren. I think this weakens the idea that there is an absolute standard (at least functionally for spren bonding) for what 'honor' means

And, as a bonus, that throne room's misty window would look even more awesome!

Yeah, but combat lurkers are insane.

Manuscript version of a scene from upcoming book (acquired at great personal risk through ninja-like-behavior): "SG-12 The Dustbringers waited anxiously for the chevrons to engage gate to charge. Finally, the last chevron locked gem pulsed, and a surge of light, like a splash, shot out from the stargate Oathgate. They rushed through the gate, firing slashing at the Goa'uld's Yelig-nar's Jaffa Thundeclasts..."

Someone is very smart.

Like Trizee, I really liked the prose and characterisation, especially of Montague. I thought the conflicts and tensions the king brought up for him were well done. I found the king himself a bit inconsistent. For example, why did he make a fuss about payment? If Montague can afford to charge that much, surely a king can afford to pay that and far more? If this is the king's way of punishing the baker for the earlier behaviour, I think there should be some sign of that. The magic system was intriguing and well demonstrated. I loved the way it worked through the artistry of baking, and htere were some nice descriptions of the food. I could have done with a bit more description, both of the locations and of the characters. A couple of times the lack of earlier description led to things that confused me, like the princess turning out to by a young girl a whole page after being introduced, and the patisserie, which I'd taken for a shop, turning out to be a cafe. I also had a bit of a problem with the structure. It may just be because I've been thinking about this a lot lately, but for me the shifts in point of view didn't work. A story that seemed to be about Montague and his conflict with the king completely changed focus half way through, and though we saw the outcome of Montague's plan we didn't see him being challenged in achieving it, struggling towards his goal, whether he changed, or how he felt about the outcome being a girl's death. It almost felt like parts of two different stories - one focussed on Montague's mission of revenge, one on a family sliding towards tragedy. I was really interested in both, but even though they're part of the same set of events, the emotional pay-off for one isn't the same as the emotional pay-off for the other. Hope I've managed to explain that last bit properly. So two well written halves with characters I was interested in, but they didn't feel like they fitted together.

From the text I emphasized, it looks like neither the shadow-like, red-eyed spren nor the larger spren that came after it were Odiumspren, but rather spren that were "touched" by whoever (a name) is. I think an Unmade was using Odium-based magic (Voidbinding? Something else?) to make various spren do his/her bidding.

I know it's a bit late, but I ran into him here and managed to get a few Cosmere questions in: Q: In Dalinar's visions, he interacted with people in ways that seemed strange and unexpected to those he was interacting with, and they responded appropriately. Did his actions actually influence the past, or not? For example, did he help influence Nohadon to write The Way of Kings? (Note: This is a very interesting question to ask because both answers reveal something very interesting. A yes says that time travel in some form is possible under Cosmere magic; a no says that the dying Tanavast had enough power and awareness available to him to create some extremely detailed and highly interactive simulations, which is far more capability than Leras had while dying!) A: No, they were just projections sent into his mind. Q: We know that Hoid has a bead of Lerasium, that he obtained during the events of The Well of Ascension. As of the most recent Cosmere book chronologically, (The Alloy of Law, I believe,) has it been used? A: Well, umm... probably not exactly in the way you're thinking... Q: OK, specifically, has it been used either by Hoid burning it or by him giving it to someone else to burn? A: Well, Hoid's a very resourceful person, and he finds uses for most of the things he gets ahold of, though they're not always the expected uses. So yeah, he's found something to do with it, but I'll have to RAFO that one, because it's going to come up in later books and I don't want to spoil things.

Only if the person using the metal spike had Investiture from Ruin and had an Identity attuned to Ruin prior to spiking Dalinar.Could Elend and Vin have traded breaths? No, they don't have Breath. And if some people from Nalthis gave them lots of Breath they would still not be able to trade or use them unless they somehow attuned their Identity to Endowment. Could a Mistborn with a stomach full of metals use them on Nalthis, Sel, or Roshar? Space travel with Allomancy will become possible, which suggests you can use it on other planets. Extrapolate this and we can theorize surgebinding and Awakening work on distant planets. So far Sel is the only confirmed place where magic doesn't work away from home.

Could also be that when he goes through for, say, Kaladin, if a Kaladin scene comes up that depends on stuff Dalinar is doing, he writes the Dalinar scene at the same time. Then when he goes through for the Szeth stuff, he throws in a necessary Dalinar PoV for the awesome fight, et cetera, so the final pass is just adding the Dalinar scenes that weren't directly required by characters he's already written.

Ok, so we know there is a residue. I'm guessing we can agree it changes you. But I don't really want to focus on just how strong Kelsier is compared to a Shard. The big thing I want to focus on is that Demoux is more likely to be an agent of Kelsier's than of Sazed's. Which would mean Kelsier is involved with the Seventeenth Shard, which brings me to the fact that he's technically a Sliver. Say you have a small business. There is a team of Salesmen who answer to the Salesman Supervisor. There's an Engineering department that answers to the Lead Engineer. The Salesman Supervisor and the Lead Engineer both answer directly to the President. The President's Assistant also answers directly to the President. He's, from a hierarchy perspective, peers with the different department managers. But that doesn't mean he has the same power to make changes in the company. Likewise, A Cognitive Sliver like Kelsier would quite likely see himself as a being "Of Adonalsium" now, just like a shard. He doesn't need shard-like power to recognize himself to be on the same level of hierarchy. This would explain a name like Seventeenth Shard which is a bit pretentious for a sliver (and Kelsier probably is), but is absurdly pretentious if you're just a group of dudes whose power has gone very far into the head. Also, thank you for the search help, WW.

Until Sanderson specifically states otherwise, my position is that the thrill is nothing more than a normal human reaction. Almost every one of the symptoms corresponds nicely to what you see in descriptions of an adrenalin dump or a battle haze. Truthfully, it isn't even all that original. Chereks get something extremely close in the Garion books. Richard could possibly be included from the Sword of Truth books. There are several instances of it happening in the Mazalan books. I seem to remember something close happening in the Wheel of Time books... It is well documented that the normal human body can do seemingly miraculous things when stressed Much has been made of Dalinar's "sickness" as being an affect of the thrill. I don't believe it is that as much as his conscience catching up to him. He has matured beyond the hack and slash stage to view his enemies as actual people.

It feels like she would be more angry at the person with the shard in kind of a, you aren't worthy, way, but she acts with anger towards the shards. She refers to Dalinar's shard she says stuff like "that thing" and "I hate it" and all that. That whole conversation seems like someone saying "That guy is cool, especially now that he's not hanging out with evil cultists" (or whatever evil thing) They way she acts is almost like the shardblades personally betrayed her, as if they are somehow the remains of the KR(Or their spren I guess, do you call the KR spren knights radiant? ) who abandend and betrayed the order and just let whomever pick them up and start killing people. So Syl and her knight get left behind do die and she is left behind with a rather low opinion of the traitor blades, her being an honor spren and all, which she still acts on despite her memories not having returned.

I was at this signing as well. Finally met Mi'ch and Josh and Peter. Good times. Also, I asked Brandon a question about Hoid collecting important items. Because he has the Lerasium bead and the element. I asked if Hoid has any other items we should know about. Brandon responded that the Lerasium bead and the element are the same thing. And that Hoid has many items he should not have. So basically, he confirmed that Hoid wrote the letter. Without saying those words exactly, but when you think about what he did say, yeah. It's confirmed. I just wish I'd had the phone power to record it. But Josh and Mi'ch heard what he said too, so they can confirm this. Also, Hoid knows about forgery. But that's no surprise, since he associated with Shai. But that was Brandon's answer when I asked if Hoid knows forgery. And I can't remember his response when I asked if Hoid has forged anything.

Maybe lerasium allows a Feruchemist to permanently store his or her Feruchemy in the metal. Then, going by the fact that's lerasium is a metal anyone can burn, it can also be a metal anyone can draw from. So if a Feruchemist stored his Feruchemy in a lerasiummind, anyone could then draw it and become a Feruchemist permanently. As for Hemalurgy, perhaps it steals youth? (making the guy it stole from X years older, depending on the size of the spike, and making the guy who receives it X-Y years younger. Y is the amount of power lost during transition, as Hemalurgy is end-negative.)

Something I've been mulling over for awhile and have posited in smaller, less concrete thoughts - we know all the Shards have a physical, cognitive and spiritual aspect, and they and their power are distributed across all three Realms. But are all of them distributed equally? For instance, is it possible some Shards have a stronger presence and influence in the Physical realm, while others have stronger influence in the Spiritual? We've posited that not every magic system's focus is necessarily physical, could this be part of it? For instance, Ruin and Preservation had very strong physical presences and influence. Their magic systems all had a physical focus (the physical molecular structure of metals), and their physical bodies were a major part of those magic systems with Lerasium and atium and the effects of those. Most uses of their power involved manipulation of the Physical realm or had effects confined to the Physical. By extension, Sazed after taking up both shards makes reference to being able to repair Vin and Elend's bodies, but not bring back their souls. That they went somewhere he couldn't reach, but perhaps with time he'd get better at such things, etc. Then contrast that with Endowment and the magic of Nalthis, in which the Spiritual (Breath) is a much more integral part of the magic. Similarly, that which seems problematic for Sazed (restoring souls to life) is a common occurrence for Endowment, and Lightsong speaks of seeing a wave of coruscating light after he dies, from beyond which a voice speaks to him. To me, this intimates that perhaps Endowment and his/her influence is rooted more in the Spiritual realm. Likewise, given the peculiarities of travel in Shadesmar around Sel, and the strong Cognitive component to its many region based magics, perhaps Devotion and Dominion are more strongly rooted in the Cognitive Realm. From a certain perspective, this also matches the Shards' various Intents. Ruin and Preservation are more Physical things, they're more natural parts of the physical universe, having to do with entropy, etc. Devotion and Dominion are more Cognitive Intents, they're Intents that have very little meaning without sentient minds to perceive them. All things with Physical form are beholden to the influence of Ruin and Preservation, but the Physical form of a rock has no Devotion to the land it comes from or the forces it interacts with. That requires a mind to comprehend that Intent, let alone to adhere to it or be affected by it. And then of course Endowment speaks of natural or innate qualities, talents, or abilities, things that are not inherently physical, but are inherent, regardless of Cognitive function, thus implying Endowment is more Spiritual. I further posit that how a Shard's presence and influence is divided between the Physical, Cognitive and Spiritual realms has to do with their criteria in selecting which planet to settle. Brandon has said that they have some control over where they ended up, but not total. My suspicion is that like the Shards themselves, not all Shardworlds inhabit all three Realms equally. All worlds have a Physical form of course, but perhaps some inhabit the Cognitive Realm more than others, thus making Shadesmar easier (or more dangerous, hard to say at this point) to enter, or some might be more in sync with the Spiritual realm. Thus Shards like Endowment with a stronger Spiritual presence might have gravitated towards Nalthis due to it inhabiting the Spiritual Realm more fully than say, Scadrial. Thus giving it more influence. Does any of that make sense to anyone else?

Not temporal, but the ability to see spirit web bind points would be fantastic.

Fire away, Senor Feesh! If I'm on the right track, it'll hold up to scrutiny. If it doesn't, I'm not, so it hardly matters. Right, and all of that would be factored in obviously, but I don't think any of that inherently contradicts what I'm saying. We've known for awhile that the focus of a magic is due to the Shard's interaction with a planet. What I'm saying is this would just be one more variable in determining that. Basically, my theory is that Scadrial is a planet rooted most strongly in the Physical Realm, with very little Cognitive and Spiritual Realm overlap, compared to other planets. This then, would be part of what determines that the focus of the magic will be physical, that the various Shards' interaction with the planet's natural state would result in physical focused magic, with metals forming from various Shards' investiture in it. Actually, let me correct myself. I don't believe that the focus is reflective of whatever Realm the shardworld and Shard have the strongest presence in....I believe the form of a Shard's investiture in a planet and its magic is reflective of this. On Scadrial, that investiture is present in metals, or the Physical. On Sel, that investiture is present in shapes formed by conscious thought: Aons, soul stamps, bone formations, the shapes or positions of the body in a dance, representations of regions as defined by man-made or perceived boundaries: the Cognitive. On Nalthis, that investiture is present in Breath, the Spiritual. (Perhaps my wording is still wrong here, its tricky to define precisely given what we know at this stage, but I believe most of you understand what I'm suggesting here.) Most simply stated: The natural state of Scadrial is predominantly Physical....thus resulting in physical manifestations of the investiture by various Shards' interaction with it, and appealing most strongly to Shards who's nature/influence is predominantly Physical, a key factor in Ruin and Preservation 'settling' there, By contrast, Nalthis has a stronger presence in the Spiritual Realm, thus spiritual manifestations of investiture result from Shardic interactions there. Were other Shards to interact with Nalthis, at least significantly enough to invest portions of themselves there, these investitures would manifest as something akin to Breath. Similarly, Sel, more strongly Cognitive than the other two worlds manifests investiture in Cognitive displays. As for your other points Nepene, I don't believe those quotes contradict my (admittedly rough and barebones) theory in and of themselves. The critical component of the Sazed point I believe is when Brandon says this: There are things Sazed does not have power over. This does nothing to say that all Shards are limited in the same ways, and indeed, that's exactly what I'm getting at here. That Sazed holds two Shards, but they're Shards with Physical Intent. That's where most of his power lies, I believe, and there will always be things Shards of Cognitive or Spiritual Intent will be better at, or will have power over, while he can manipulate the Physical Realm in ways they can not. And Brandon's extrapolation of that quote would seem to indicate its more a matter of degree....he hints there are ways Sazed could eventually bring Vin and Elend back, if he became skilled or knowledgeable enough. So perhaps its more accurate to say that while all the Shards are inherently capable of the same things, some are better at some things than others, depending on which Realm their influence lies in most strongly. In fact, Honor's line about Cultivation being better at seeing the future than he would seem to indicate this as well. And as for the quote about travel in Shadesmar being dangerous as a result of Odium's trip to Sel, you'll note that I mentioned the pecularities of travel in Shadesmar around Sel, first and foremost. I don't have the quote handy, but I believe I've seen discussion about a quote of Brandon's where he mentioned that Shadesmar has always been tricky to navigate around Shadesmar, even before Odium came to Sel. That quote about the mindless power he left in his wake there explains why its more dangerous to travel there now, but doesn't address why Shadesmar has always had a seemingly different relationship with Sel than the other Shardworlds we've seen thus far.

"You could really answer that either way." Stop arguing.

Brandon's responded to people's guesses about the number of Allomantic metals with things like, "nearly," so I think he probably has a number in mind at the very least.

This is just a hunch, but I feel that it falls well in line with Windrunner's Theory, but what if it's all about Service as opposed to Self-Sacrifice? I have a couple of reasons to back this up. First of all, it's definitely a LDS thing. The religion is all about Serivce, and I wouldn't find it so farfetched as to appear in at least one of his books. Second, running with this same theme, I think it shows a sort of parallel with the lives the Returned of Hallandren live. They spend their whole lives being served by others and, in the end, would have to serve one of their very subjects in order to grant their one request. It's a full circle. They Serve in order to become a Returned, they live life being Served AS a Returned, then they leave one last time in order to Serve someone they find worthy. Yes, I think this works with Self-Sacrifice as well, but it misses the middle point. I also think that this might reflect how Infant Returned are possible. To quote Vortaan This is true. Definitely. But, again taking into consideration LDS religion, where a Spirit (a nod to the Spiritual Realm) and the Mind (a nod to the Cognitive Realm) are sperate from the Body (And, of course, the Physical Realm) and that one's Spiritual and Mental state are at its Prime before and after entering a Body, it would make sense that the Spiritual and Cognitive aspects of a person would be the ideal age BEFORE enetering a Body in the Physical Realm (of course, then needing to grow as the body grows...and for those familiar with LDS religion Shadesmar could possibly likened unto the Veil? A stretch, I know). That being said, it makes a little more sense that an Infant Returned might have had the knowledge and understanding to make the choice to come back as a Returned. They had the knowledge in the Spiritual Realm, and were able to make the decision. As for actually Serving as an Infant, this one might be a stretch. But would it be so odd that one could choose to Serve before even entering the Physical Realm based on knowledge known before hand? And, again, this could also possibly work for Self-Sacrificing, as well. I kinda actually think the two are almost the same. The last thing I thought that would possibly work, however thin the idea may be, is that--running with the Self-Sacrificing Theory) maybe Splinters DO, in fact, come from DEAD Shards, and not KILLED Shards. To my knowledge, it has never been outrightly said if Endowment was alive, but rather Endowment was not killed. Maybe Breaths were a Self-Sacrificial way for Endowment to help the people of Nalthis, and they are able to hear her voice, similar--but not the same--as Dalinar does with Honor, when they emulate Endowment's actions and Self-Sacrifice. Just an afterthought, really. I know this is all just a bunch of babble, but it was late and I was just jotting some additional Theories while reading this thread. Lemme know what you think!

My take on Sherlock: [5P] Sherlock Holmes: A Coppercloud Archivist/Copper Compounder Twinborn- a Mnemonic. He's able to read every book and newspaper that could be relevent to investigative work and later recall every detail perfectly. Compounding Copper would make every memory extremely vivid, which would in turn make Sherlock a master deductionist. Also, the Allomantic side of Copper would make him immune to emotional Allomancy, rendering him manipulation-proof. [5P] Doctor John Watson: A Leecher Spinner/Chromium Compounder Twinborn- a Weaver. This is where it gets interesting. Being able to Leech Allomancers would help Watson protect Sherlock, but that's just a bonus; if Sherlock is poisoned, Watson would be able to purify his system by Leeching him. Of course, the real aid Watson will provide is by compounding luck, making finding leads and clues extremely easy. And the contra: [5P] Professor James Moriarty: An Oracle Pinnacle/Electrum Compounder Twinborn- an Erratic. I imagine being in a constant state of mania and having inhumane determination would make Moriarty be just like the one in the series Sherlock. A bit unstable, a tad mad, but always clear on his goals. [5P] Bodyguard: A Pewterarm Brute/Pewter Compounder Twinborn- a Juggernaut. Not much to say here, except that compounding Pewter would make one basically a Hulk.

They are called honorspren because they are a manifestation of the concept of honor. They are attracted to honorable actions for the same reason.