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Something strange is going on with Nohadon. I trust Dalinar when he says that it's a vision and it's unlike the rest. Nohadon, inside that vision, speaks to Dalinar with familiarity, and directly addressed the manifestation of the thunderclast. The Stormfather also says that Dalinar was shown all the visions of Nohadon. And yet, in the vision, Nohadon addresses Dalinar directly: This is something that has not happened before. This is also the first time we see the question "what is the most important step a man can take," which will have great significance later on. Before I go any further, I want to extend some thank yous to the folks who beat into my head the possibility of this being a thing over on this thread. It took a lot of hard convincing but they finally won me over, so thanks for sticking with it everyone, especially @hoser and @Paragrin So the essence of that thread was trying to figure out who Odium was referencing when Dalinar Ascended and he said "No, we killed you." While I'm supposing that person is Nohadon, I don't want to get into that discussion per se, but rather, the proofs behind whether it's possible and what people think about him on a broader level, as a quick search didn't show a Nohadon topic. To boil things down, I think that Nohadon was a Bondsmith, and he was bonded to the Sibling. I think that after he died, he bound his cognitive shadow to the spren in a similar way to what Honor did, preserving him for the future and allowing him to connect with Dalinar. There is some textual evidence to support this theory. First off, of any order, the Bondsmiths would be the ones who would be able to accomplish something like this. The Way of Kings is also very much about unifying people. It's the book that inspired Dalinar to become a Bondsmith. Nohadon exhibits those traits of uniting instead of dividing. But let's continue on past this point. The evidence is not hard, but plausible, that Nohadon could both be a Bondsmith and accomplish such a task. We know there are only three Bondsmiths. In Oathbringer, we learned a few more things. So one Bondsmith that generation. They fear it's because Honor is changing. I put forth that it because this is when Honor intentionally splintered himself into the Stormfather. I say this because we know that Dalinar is the first to bond the Stormfather since the change. This means we can infer they had been previously bonding the Stormfather and one other spren since they were aware of their concerns with Honor. We have this information from an Elsecaller, saying that one Sibling had withdrawn. I put forth that this Sibling was bonded to Nohadon, and she discovered that Nohadon had preserved his cognitive shadow inside of it. Paragrin has solid evidence that with Connection, you can interact with people from the spiritual realm, even without it having a direct influence on the way the text formatting is displayed, or the internal voice is distinguished in the character's mind. I'm still going through my reread, but, in the chapter 'Bondsmith,' I found another little piece that made me think Nohadon was nudging Dalinar along. Dalinar has his reaction, the Stormfather rumbles around, as he is want to do, and then there is a disappointment beyond that. Which is what I am putting forth to be Nohadon's Cognitive Shadow bonded to a spren, using Connection to interact with Dalinar. He does this again later, answering the question he gave Dalinar earlier as Dalinar struggles for meaning against the pain of his past and questions the answer he came to so easily. On a more personal note, the way Brandon answers this question makes me feel like he wanted to see if they had picked up on some foreshadowing he had put into place, but I haven't scrutinized WoK or WoR, and this is from when WoR was published. He's reacting similarly to the when I asked about Helaran not being bonded to a spren during the WoR signing. So, brief wrap up, plausible evidence that it could be possible using a Bondsmith's power, Nohadon displays the right temperament to be a Bondsmith, Nohadon interacts with Dalinar in a way that could not be a vision and Dalinar recognizes to not be a dream, we have evidence that using Connection a character can interact with another in a way that doesn't alter book script, and the italics during Dalinar's Ascension pick up right where they left off conversing in the dream, where Nohadon answers the question he posed to Dalinar.

just a mornings work, thought i'd share sorry about the quality I thought i'd transcoded it in 1080 but obviously failed. oh and there are captions in youtube that you might not see from portable devices, unless you select desktop mode for youtube.

Do I have to spoiler anything besides Oathbringer right now? For example, could I make memes about stuff from WOR, or BOM?

Huh. The result I got isn't in your poll.

He finally said the storming words. So happy. I do hope someone lets him know many fans are not on reddit (twitter, for example, has many people still asking). Might be good for Adam, or whoever runs it, to note that Brandon does not read the tweets (based on this statement).

And out of nowhere... I'm a Sentient Awakened Object. On your level now, Clearcut! Thanks, everyone who gave me upvotes. I'm saving a giant mushy you-all-rock-and-the-Shard-has-changed-my-life for my one year anniversary (I haven't even been here a year yet? Wow, feels like so long and yet so little at the same time...), but again, thanks. CELEBRATION TIME COME ON!

I must be a simpleton. Three simple words: "we killed you". I don't understand any of them. I splintered Honor ("you" = Honor; "we" = Odium + minions and/or traitors; "killed" = Splintering of Honor and maybe subsequent death of Tanavast): Obvious. But Odium doesn't seem like the most likely to be sharing credit with what he probably sees as lesser contributors. And Dalinar didn't say he was Honor. He said he was Unity. We Shards splintered Honor ("you" = Honor; "we" = Odium + another Shard; "killed" as above): Also obvious. What other Shard? Nepene suggested Autonomy below. Cultivation and Honor are local, but surprising possibilities given what we understand of their motivations. But why did Dalinar say he was Unity? Our group Shattered Adonalsium ("you" = Adonalsium; Implicitly "we" = Rayse + other actors; "killed" = Shattering of Adonalsium): Does that mean that Dalinar reminds him of Adonalsium? Is Unity the same as Adonalsium? Is Dalinar rebuilding Adonalsium? Why does Syl think it's Honor's Perpendicularity? Because Honor was part of Adonalsium and she didn't know Adonalsium? Dalinar and I killed Evi ("you" = Evi; "we" = Odium + Dalinar; "killed" = normal human death): Fifth of Daybreak proposed this below. The "we" makes sense. I assume that the voice is Evi and she has lingered somehow, rather than traveling beyond. But does Odium even know about the communication between what I presume to be Evi and Dalinar? Why would Odium focus on a long-dead pawn in the face of a presence of something that sees him as small that he is apparently unwilling to face? In context, wouldn't Odium be addressing what's in front of him? Dalinar's anger and I overcame Dalinar's responsible, growing self ("you" = new, controlled Dalinar; "we" = Odium + Dalinar's anger; "killed" = human internal transformation): Crimson Not Blood suggests this below. Autonomy and I splintered Unity: mirianme proposes this on the second page. A related issue is what Dalinar is becoming and what is influencing him. It seems awkward to include here. Is the god beyond encouraging Dalinar to unite the Shards? What did Tanavast's unity charge in the vision mean? Unite the human nations? Unite the humans and the parsh? Or is Tanavast also encouraging him to unite the Shards? Was Tanavast under the influence of what Dalinar is perceiving? Does this deserve it's own thread or should I try to include it? You guys have already provided other explanations. Let's figure this out as well as we can!

I finished the first Mistborn book just a few days ago and was inspired immediately. Especially by the end I got quite emotional so I was trying to capture that in a picture of Vin. "When you remember me , please remember that. Remember how to smile." Hope you like it.

Brandon released a thoughtful and personal political statement about BLM which I appreciated. Nevertheless, I'm having too much fun posting my theories on here. This one ranges quite a bit so bear with me and as always I welcome disagreement and correction. Spoilers for Stormlight. Blackmail Theory: The Real Recreance A certain epigraph in WOR suggests that Taravangian has a secret that broke the knight's radiant in the Recreance. We then see him releasing a secret to attack Dalinar by decoding the Eila Stele. It is revealed that human's are not the original inhabitants of Roshar, they came, invaded, and displaced the singers. This causes Kaladin and others some moral guilt and we are led to believe that this is the secret that broke the Knight's Radiant. Except I don't buy it. The knights who abandoned their oaths, abandoned their fight against a mad god, gave up their super powers, and killed their best friends. I might have felt guilty if I was a knight during the Recreance, attempted to make peace with the Singers, find a way to co-exist, even some kind of reperations. I wouldn't abandon everything because my ancestors were guilty of a horrible crime. I don't really have to wonder about this. I'm a white man in the south. I think we should build a world that's good for all of us now (liberal socialism) and not hold people accountable for the sins of their ancestors. I also get that this is a self serving point of view. My own ethics aside, it is hard to imagine an ethical system that would require the Radiants to abandon their entire civilization and way of life because of their displacement of a native people in the distant past. Nor did the Radiants actually help the Singers during the Recreance they left them a broken enslaved people. Finally, the idea that humans aren't from Roshar (excluding Shinovar) can't have been that big a secret. Jasnah figured it out without help. Dalinar who though sometimes clever is not a scientist almost figures this out. Really anyone familiar with evolutionary biology would figure this out pretty quickly. Where is the human evolutionary branch? There are barely any other mammals. If that's not enough a quick examination of the fossil record would be. Scholars on Roshar had to think human's came from Shinovar at least. Perhaps this information was subsequently suppressed by Vorinism but I don't think it came as a surprise during the Recreance. Taravangian hasn't played his trump card. He was attacking Dalinar, trying to control the Knight's Radiant not destroy them. Indeed, destroying them completely would have removed his bargaining power with Odium. So what is the secret that broke the Radiants? Before we answer that, we need to pause and consider two seperate questions. First, what does the ecology of Roshar look like? We have seen that spren are deeply tied to several species of greatshells, but there are continual references to spren being involved intimately with other animals, Ryshadium, sky eels, fish in the pure lake. The spren involved with the greatshells seem to be exploiting something similar to a surge of gravitation. Can other species access other pseudosurges? Perhaps fish in the Purelake access regrowth through a spren, which explains why they can cure aches and pains. Grasses could access cohesion to help them burrow into rocks. Birds could use adhesion to glue their eggs in their nests during highstorms. Cremlings could access illumination to hide from predators. Rockbuds could use transformation instead of nitrogen fixing bacteria. The possibilities are endless. I believe that spren are tied far more deeply to the ecology on Roshar than we are aware of. Such an ecology would be far stranger than any we are familiar with on earth. Ecosystems on earth are rather strictly bounded by things like, amount of sunlight, available water, temperature, oxygen levels, and available nutrients. Answer a few basic questions about these types of things and I can predict a great deal about the kind of life you are likely to find in such an ecosystem. Not so on Roshar, spren and the surges they offer allow all kinds of work arounds to these limitations. We can expect life on Roshar to be stranger, more varied. Indeed, the spren have their own ecosystem. There are clear references to spren eating each other during the trip to Thaylen city. These sprensystems must overlap somehow with Rosharan ecosystems. We know so little about spren. What do they get out of their interactions in the physical realm? Are they immortal? Do they reform or reproduce in someway? What sustains them? What would a spren food chain look like? I don't have the answers here except to speculate that this deep connection to spren makes the Rosharan ecology almost 4 dimensional in nature. Second, how does Odium plan to kill Cultivation? He is not simply seeking to conquer Roshar. He is planning to cause the total ecological collapse of all life on the continent. This is how Odium killed Honor, he caused Honor to invest himself in humans and then he caused those humans to act dishonorably breaking that investiture away from Honor leading to his madness and death. Similarly, Odium observes Cultivation causing life to florish all across Roshar. When Odium kills all of that life he will cause her investiture to act against her intent. This is foreshadowed by the fate Ashyn, the scowering of Aimia, and Honor's ravings about the Radiants and the danger of their Shards. It is also a not uncommon theme in Brandon's other books. How does Odium intend to end all life on Roshar? This is the secret that broke the Knight's Radiant. Humans and especially surge binders are destroying and are fundamentally destructive to the ecology of Roshar outside of Shinovar. The human presence outside of Shinovar is causing a slow but inevitable environmental catastophy, not unlike global warming. Humans with their mere presence and emotions are attracting Spren and interacting with them, surgebinders even more so. They are disturbing the key element that makes the Rosharan ecology work. There are limited numbers of spren in each area, many of whom are drawn preferentially to humans. Even in victory the Radiants are destorying Roshar and Cultivation. That's why the humans were originally confined to Shinovar. That's why the Shin refuse to leave the valley of truth. That's how humans ended up harming the sibling. That's why so many parts of Roshar are barren and empty, unclaimed hills, frostlands, Aimia, etc... That's why the Radiants betrayed humanity. It was a noble gesture to save Roshar or at least forstall the end. Odium is confident in victory not because of his past record of success but because there is no path to victory. Fall before Odium's armies and he will orchestrate the systematic destruction of Roshar's ecology unopposed. Defeat Odium by using surgebinding and the ecosystem will collapse everyone will starve, Cultivation will die, and Odium be set free. (Not really, I think Stormlight will have a happy ending where everyone lives) Thanks for reading my theory.

To celebrate the new KR quiz...

i am surprised you could take brandon's silence for lack of support, as all his books show his faith in humanity, and specifically in the lowly. take bridge 4, where the people who were discarded by society are turned into an elite unit. take elantris, where you have a savage society turned into an utopia. think of marasi, with her "social reforms prevent crime more than the police" and "if you have to stop a criminal by shooting at him, society already failed". does the guy who writes this strikes you as a white suprematist?

A halloween conversation Sanderfan: Spook Person: You mean spooky right? Sanderfan: No. I mean spook. Person: I think you made a mistake. You were saying my costume was spooky correct? Sanderfan: Wasing the complimenting of your costume Person: What? Sanderfan: That's what I meant by spook

Brandon followed up to my thank you reply (which read: Thank you for taking the time to respond and explain. I hope you understand that I was coming from a place of deep admiration, without which there could have been no disappointment in the first place.)

Shallan:

It's not funny, Szeth thought to himself, how many things begin with me intentionally getting thrown into prison. Wow, thought his strange, black Shardblade. Vasher used to think it was funny! Who is this 'Vasher' the Blade has mentioned several times? Szeth wondered. But before he could pose the question to the sword, one of the guards looking through his possessions pulled it out to examine it, undoing its clasp as he did so. Suddenly, the other guards began to fight to seize it from him...

My signature has started to slowly learn your names Currently, most of you will be just "fellow Sharders", but give it time and I hope you'll see my Polandball greet you by your username And expect mistakes, as we all know, names are hard to learn

Kaladin Lashed himself to the side, narrowly avoiding the Parshendi spear that would’ve hit his gut. He jabbed with his Sylspear, and watched the parshendi’s eyes burn out as he began falling towards a larger group of parshendi. He landed on the side of one of them, then Lashed himself down, landing on top of the parshendi and crushing the skull. The other parshendi moved in, chanting a hostile, war-like rhythm. Kaladin danced in between the spears. Weapons could not hit him. He was the wind. He was- A searing pain shot up Kaladin’s leg. He cried out in pain as something sharp was ripped from his calf. Not a spear. Something longer... Kaladin turned around to see a Fused floating above, it’s wicked blade gleaming on the end of a long pole. Storms! Where had it come from? The last of Kaladin’s stormlight healed the wound, muscle and sinew knitting together to make the leg whole again. He breathed in prepared to feel the storm ignite inside of him again. Except... nothing happened. Storms, he was out of stormlight! Surrounded by parshendi and a Fused, Kaladin fought with everything he had. His Sylspear rose in silvery flashes, frantically trying to slap away the spearheads. A cut on his leg. A nick on his side. Kaladin began to breathe heavily, sweat running down the side of his head. Kaladin stumbled, watching one of the Parshendi swing his spear- Suddenly, something slammed into the group of the Parshendi. A glowing, almost divine figure in glowing shardplate. Adolin? No, his shardplate wasn’t this bright of a blue. And besides, he was off fighting one of the Unmade heading this assault. The figure swung its magnificent-looking shardblade, cutting through the parshendi, leaving a row of them with their eyes burned out. Oddly, the figure dropped a bit of rounded metal and soared through the air towards the Fused. It seemed to be as surprised as Kaladin was, and it’s reflexes weren’t quick enough to stop the gauntleted fist from smashing into the Fused face. The Fused dropped to the ground, motionless. The figure in the shardplate turned around. It seemed to be laughing... where had Kaladin heard that laugh before? The figure reached up and slammed open its visor. Kaladin gasped. “You!” “Me!” Hoid said, a big grin plastered to his face. “You seem to say that a lot. I suppose being dropped on your head as a small child certainly doesn’t help your intelligence.” Kaladin was too stunned to even react to the insult. “But... how? Hoid, you’re a storming Radiant! And you’ve already got plate!” “Yes, yes, I know. Everyone seems to be surprised by how fast I got that. Especially ole’ Swirly right here.” Hoid’s sword disappeared in a puff of mist, and a spren similar to Shallan’s crawled up to Hoid’s shoulder. “So... many... Truths...” it said, sounding not unlike someone who had eaten about two more chickens than they should have at Middlefest. “Anyways, I’ve got to fly. You know, songs to sing, people to confuse, Dalinar to insult.” Hoid raised a small vial to his lips, chugged it’s contents, then threw the small bottle to the side. Odd man Hoid was. He dropped another bit of metal on the ground, and then soared away with the wind. As he was flying away, Hoid yelled out to Kaladin, “Don’t forget to play my flute, everything you think you know about the Nahel bond is a lie, the Dawnshards...” Hoid’s voice trailed of to the point where Kaladin couldn’t hear him anymore. Shaking his head, Kaladin jogged off to find Dalinar. He would need another perpendicularity to charge up his spheres.

on the other hand, brandon's concern that celebrities will sway opinions in ignorance is also well founded. I can speak my mind freely and if i happen to say something stupid about things i don't understand, there's nothing wrong with it, i'll just be ignored. but someone like sanderson saying something stupid because he does not understand a topic will have people pick it up and resonate. seeing it from outside, i don't know what's it really like and i am surprised about phrases like "legitimize the demands" and "protect the protestors". I mean, the protestors are asking that the police stop killing random people because some officer is too trigger-happy or he had a bad day and is venting out on some poor fellow. what's there to legitimize? there shouldn't be any question about it. especially not in a country that is proud of a long democratic tradition and that is still strongly influenced by its origin as a rebel colony against an oppressive empire. You even have the constitution declaring that everyone has a right to bear arms, because the people must be able to rebel against the government if the government turns oppressive. I would expect one such country would be extremely jealous of individual rights; that in such a country the police can stop people and beat them up for no real reason, and mostly get away with it, is a living contradiction. seen from the outside world, the president supporting the protests in hong kong and then shouting LAW AND ORDER and deploying the army for the protests in his country, the whole business looks like a joke. it would look like a joke, if people hadn't died for it. on the other hand, the police also cannot be blamed entirely, because their lives are on the line. many policemen are shot because they try to be nice and the other guy pulls a gun - a downside of having weapons sold freely because of the right of revolt. From my outsider perspective, the real problem in usa is social inequality. no help for people in need. no perspective of better future for those who live in the ghettos. america spends a pittance on social help compared to european countries. it stems from the fierce indepentent spirit of the country; my life, my problems, his life, his problems. And i actually like that ideal. I clean up my own mess, and I hate that I also have to clean up someone else's because they did something stupid. I worked hard to do something with my life and i hate that other people would not work hard and i have to work harder to provide for them. Unfortunately, this way of thinking does not work, because everything is interconnected. if your neighbor drop off school because he was too lazy, that's his problem, and you may not want to help. but if he can't find a job and he breaks into your house to rob you, it's become your problem. and if he robs me, it's become my problem, even though I had nothing to do with the whole business in the first place. worse, the whole "i worked hard and they didn't" is not as accurate as we like to think. some research shows poor people often work harder, and get rewarded less. ultimately, people who grow up in the ghettos stay ignorant because they can't afford the fancy schools, so then they can't afford the fancy jobs and stay poor, and their children will also live in the ghettos, and the cycle goes on. Some people will manage, individually, to break it, but not enough to really change things. incidentally, lots of black people live in ghettos, because their parents lived there, and their parent's parents, all the way back since they were discriminated by the law. if more black people had a chance to move upwards in society, less of them would turn to crime, and it would also help with racism. in europe we spend more money on social policies, we have less inequality, and less crime. and while this means some people will just idle their lives off the work of someone else, most of those people recovered from the ghettos actually become good contributing citizens. like in bridge 4, you got to rescue people like rock and sigzil, even though you got one moash amid the group. though the real test for europe will be how well we'll handle the current wave of immigrants, if in 30 years their children will be well-integrated or they will be living in ghettos and making troubles. everything is interconnected. my neighboor problem is my problem; not because i like my neighboor or because i am charitable, but because if his problem is not solved, then eventually, somehow, it will find a way to reach me. and america has a hard time with this idea because it stinks of communism, and americans spent 50 years opposing the "dirty commies". but perhaps once you take away the dictatorship and police state and gulag system, perhaps there's something there's worth salvaging. perhaps you can take the best of both world. else, you are forced to close off your undesirables in reserves, and have an army to keep them in. and perhaps i don't know social issues enough and i am saying something stupid, but I'm not a celebrity, I don't have fans and followers hanging on my lips ready to do something stupid if i give the wrong word, so i can afford to speak my mind and perhaps make mistakes. brandon cannot.

I dunno, does the writer of Harry Potter strike you as a Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist? I got from her books the exact opposite in terms of accepting people for who they are, the importance of inclusion in society.... but now we see where that author's true heart lies (if you aren't aware, JK Rowling has made many transphobic statements including in the last few days). I can only speak for myself, but it meant a lot to me that Brandon said the words, and he didn't equivocate.

So basically my English teacher makes us do this thing called No Red Ink which is just this site where you can practice grammar. The twist is that you can create names for the subjects for all the sentences, and so as a Sanderfan, I naturally put in several cosmere characters' name. Here are some of the results: Edit: "How many gummy worms do you think I can fit in my mouth at once?" mused Dalinar. "Doesn't matter," Lift said, "you just need awesomeness, and these are reeaaaaally awesome! Like deevy awesome!"

It was strange, so very strange, in the land where the gods dwelt. A fell wind mournfully wove it's way through the air, as dark clouds painted forlorn landscapes against the horizon. The wind had a subtle chill to it that would slowly work it's way through everything, unnoticed till it gnawed at your bones. It was a lonely wind for a lonely land, and they suited each other well. But the wind was not the strangest part. The air was wrong here. It was thick, like water as you wade through it. It felt as if it offered resistance to those who passed through it, slowing steps and pushing against progress. At times it seemed to stretch and warp, like a tower in a hurricane. At times you could see glimpses of another world, flashing in the air like light off a falling glass. There would be a moment of perfect clarity, of total comprehension. And then like a glass, it would reach the floor and shatter. The reflections in those shards were of memories, lives, histories that perhaps never were.But the air was not the strangest part. For among the wind and the air and the reflections of ghosts, were two figures. One a survivor of the temporal genocide, the other it's perpetrator. There, before his great work, was the One-eyed god. The Stranger was transfigured, transformed by the power and the will he had channeled to rewrite the world, and warped by a thousand ideas of what he had been. He had grown, body stretching and expanding to huge proportions, taller than any man. His limbs were too long, his fingers had too many joints. His grey lab coat had become a ragged robe, with wide, drooping sleeves and many folds that all seemed to trail off into smoke. The spikes in his body had elongated, with their tips emerging like metallic spines from all over. Along his spine they formed a grisly ridge, and they emerged from his head in a mockery of a crown. His face was gaunt, cheekbones like blades sheathed within the skin, and his grin would give a crocodile nightmares. Across his exposed skin tiny spikes formed symbols and images, eerie tattoos of metal. His thick afro had become a wild mane, the black interspersed with silver, making him look ragged as his robe. And his eyes. His left eyespike had become a lance through his skull, runes and glyphs carved all along it's surface where it jutted out of his skull a good 20 centimetres on each side of his head. And his right eye had become a well of the Void. The dark ocular swirled and oozed, dripping inky black tears that ran down the side of his face and evaporated into smoke. They had called him a dark god, the true abomination of the Alleys. And so he had become that which they proclaimed him to be. He stared into the swirling air and beheld it all, grinning as he passed a hand through an after image, causing it to dissipate into light. He watched the lights for a moment, then turned his gaze outward. His expression seemed distant, like one who looked on something far away, and he spoke. "He suspects nothing. It all fits, it all makes sense." His voice was the stillness of a forest that had been ravaged by fire, it was the deepness of the sea where light can not reach. "Time continues to pass, and he only grows more comfortable. He knows not what he has been given, but he cannot but treasure the joy of restoration. Not only that," He turned to his sole companion and his grin was almost friendly, "but the city is at peace. There is no guild war, there are no abominations roaming the streets, the DA keep their work quiet and everyone is content. We have made the peace your guild sought for so long. But what do I know of peace, I'm only a scientist blinded by ambition. Isn't that right, Sudiov?" @Voidus

This doesn't bother me. Not at all. And, because, why not:

After many rereads of the books I just came to realize the importance of a conversation that Adolin has with Maya in Words of Radiance. In it he is confiding to her before a duel and at this point "Adolin will be an Edgedancer" is pretty much fact but I think this was the literal beginning of his journey to become a Radiant. He says these words to her "I want you to know... I believe in father, I believe he is right, that the things he sees are real. The world needs a united Alethkar, fights like this are my way to make it happen." This is what woke her from her slumber I think, Mayalaran was part of the Desolations and Alethela was the Radiants home. Her proximity to Dalinar and Adolin's "honoring the fallen" to her, herself had made it possible I think but this was the moment she became more than a Deader imho. Just thought I would put this here for anyone who hadn't caught it.

He commented more, in reply to this post, which I have to link for the context of this reply. Also mods if me continuing to post his reddit statements here on this matter violates the rules please let me know, not trying to be disrespectful. I felt it was very germane to the question many 17th sharders seem to have asked, namely, “doesn’t the content of his work speak for itself?” Original poster, followed by Brandon’s response -

Brandon posted more overnight:

The people killed aren't really random and they aren't being killed because of a bad day. The existent and extent of systemic racism in policing (and more generally) is very much not a given fact in American politics. Reading your post in it's entirety, I suspect racism in America is just different from racism in Poland. I know next to nothing about Poland. I certainly don't understand racism there. I have a vague recollection of watching soccer 'hooligans' on the news, something about antisemitism. Racism where I live, North Carolina, is a kind of daily experience. It's old and violent, it reaches into schools and workplaces, hospitals and courthouses. I don't think I'm the right person to explain it, maybe read Tim Tyson's, Blood Done Sign My Name. Anyway the point is the protests are highly contentious and sometimes dangerous to be a part of. Just take my word for it. Friends of mine were attacked by police. I washed their faces with milk.

I've actually been kind of hoping that Adolin will become the model for a new relationship between spren and human. Because the current relationship is obviously not great, especially for the spren. They connect to a human, and then if that human forsakes their oath, they die. We're even told that when that human dies, it's extremely traumatic for the spren. If Adolin could be the trailblazer for a new way of working with the spren, without the nahel bond, it could be very interesting.

Oh, that does make me feel better! I'm still going to hug him if I get the chance. Everybody needs hugs!

Looking at the excel sheet that was just posted that reveals the "correct" values for the quiz, Elsecallers have a value of 100 for the lone wolf question. Truthwatchers are second highest with 89. That may be something to consider as I'm sure Brandon's team knows the orders well. They both seem to operate independently so far. Next highest his Dustbringers with 61, but we have seen squires already as was mentioned above. Truthwatchers and Elsecallers are my guess. Edit: Windrunners and Skybreakers have values of 10 and 0 respectively making them the most wolf pack leaning of the orders. We know that both of those orders have more squires than the others.

The Urule people undoubtedly have one of the most bizarre integrations magic into society that I've ever studied. The native name of the system is "isriel", derived from the multifaceted root word "riel", which can convey the idea of acting with kindness/respect, but can also mean violence and war. "The direct translation of the word used for practitioners of the system (jaenrielackenconriel) is "one-who-destroys-others-with-overwhelming-politeness-and-feasts-on-tears-borne-of-violently-pleasant-hospitality". The Jaenrielackenconriel are almost exclusively warriors and duelists. The name is quite revealing, as the magic manifests through actions of civility and respect, with greater levels of humility and hospitality directly correlating with greater displays of magical power and destructive impact, and those with a greater reputation of courtesy and chivalry can do greater things with simpler acts. And I do mean destructive. The most powerful practitioners are able to set entire cities alight simply by knocking on the city gates with a gift in hand. From my observations, it does not appear that the specific manner in which propriety is expressed has any impact on the result, as a warrior might call down lightning by saying hello to one opponent, while tearing apart a different opponent by saying the same greeting. I believe that the result is wholly dependent on what the practitioner wants to happen, and different acts of politeness simply allow them to amplify the effects. Battles are fought one-on-one and last many days, with each warrior pairing up with a warrior from the opposing side. After a brief introduction, the two warriors will begin arguing politely in regards to lodgings, with each party offering to allow the other to remain in their tent for the duration of the battle. It is during this interaction that both parties build up their magic reserves, and the longer the two continue to offer lodgings, the greater amount of magic they will be able to expend in the coming days. The loser of the discussion gives in, and the two walk to the victor's tent, where they will live with one another for a period of time. During that time, the two will attempt to kill through subtle acts of magic through kindness. Subtle is key here, as tradition mandates that there be no outwardly aggressive acts during this time. This limits them to applying hexes to the food while cooking breakfast so that the recipient might choke on it, offering to help the other cut vegetables and cursing the knife to increase the likelihood that the other slips and falls on it (which is how the current Great Jaenrielackenconriel Ursi defeated the former Great Jaenrielackenconriel Jire). However, some of the more unsavory Jaenrielackenconriel do not keep this tradition, preferring instead to simply smite their opponent after letting them enter the tent first. These people are often executed by their own army, as this breach of conduct lowers the reputation of the army, and as such, lowers the strength of their magic. Agriculture.

I think the part of some people swear oaths even though they know they wont get spren is amazing. Shows that Radiants (At least not all of them) weren't power hungry. I wonder If the God spren would informally hold them to the oaths even without powers or if its simply a test of integrity. Id also Like to see a squire, though im not sure who would be Dalinars. Maybe Navani?

Perfectionist A blank screen stares back at me, tauntingly empty. Then, the flash of an idea! My fingers twitch, then begin typing. Frantic, wild eyes trace the words as the symphony of clicks becomes faster, frenzied. Then it’s done. I read what I’ve written. The delete key returns the blank screen.

I am now going to propose my theory for Calvin's home state, even pointing to the area where the strip is located. Here me out if you want, otherwise there is a tl;dr at the bottom. (Not like this is heavily debated subject, I just have always wondered) So, to begin: A few pinpoints we have to address: It won't be somewhere desert-y, like Arizona, because it snows plenty and one of Calvin's favorite activities is to run around in the woods. The obvious candidate- that I came up with, at least- is Ohio, where Bill Watterson grew up. Hopefully I don't need to explain who that is. The reason for this? So, there is that. Also, in a strip where Calvin and Hobbes blast off into outer space in their wagon, they are determining where they live. Picture an atlas of the United States. Where would the 'E' be? About where Ohio is, on the east coast but close enough to the middle of the country not to be the 'S' at the end. So now we have a state. Ohio has plenty of woodland area and gets snow each winter, so that checks off another box. But where in Ohio? Take notice of the last panel of this comic: Calvin's home is apparently an hour and a half from... the ocean? Ohio isn't next to an ocean! But it does border Lake Erie. A lake large enough to look like an ocean when drawn in a comic strip. There are multiple towns in Ohio an hour and a half from Lake Erie. I don't see enough info in just the comics (at least that I'm remembering) to pinpoint where exactly in Ohio his hometown is, but I do know it is not Bill Watterson's hometown which lies only 30 minutes away from the lake border. The possibilities include Carrollton, Strasburg, and a bunch of other places I don't need to mention. The only other obvious landmark for Calvin's home location is their summer vacation camping trip. The constants across the board are the big cities being driven through and the trip taking 8 hours, and being in a different state. There are several National forests around 8 hours from the location of his home (Carrollton/Strasburg/other Ohio) such as Nantahala and Uwharrie National Forests in North Carolina. Any of these is a viable candidate. If anyone else wants to dig deeper into this, they can, but I think this sufficiently satisfies my wonderings. TL;DR as promised: Calvin lives around the center of Ohio, goes to Lake Erie for his beach comics, and goes to a North Carolina National forest for his summer camping trip comics.

@Truthwatcher_17.5 this one is for you. For those of you who don't know I believe that Radiant Oaths (with the exception of Lightweavers) follow a pattern. The first ideal is constant, the second is about service, the third is about fairness, the fourth is about trust and the fifth is about the ultimate goal. This belief fuels all of my oath theories. Keep in mind that despite Renarin and in part because of him are an order we know little about. We know that they tend to be service oriented, that they tend to be intelligent, many of them are taciturn for various reasons, and that more Truthwatchers have walked Roshar in recent years then almost any other order. The first ideal for Truthwatchers is of course the same "Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination." This is always the first ideal. After this however we have to speculate. The second ideal for Truthwatchers will almost certainly involve what the Truthwatcher order is supposed to do for others. At the very end of WoR Renarin claims that what he does is see. The question then is obviously what does a Truthwatcher see and how does that help anyone? Whatever Renarrin sees and however untypical his power here is the important thing is not what he sees but how he uses his knowledge. Consistently Renarin tries to help people. Despite his continued difficulty in his own life he is surprisingly selfless in his love and devotion to others. What he looks for is not information or personal opportunities but solutions to other people's problems. As such I think the first oath is "I will look for the solution(s) to their problems not mine." The third ideal is about fairness. I think this is going to be critically important to a Truthwatcher. Even if they do not normally see the future any kind of ability to see beyond what other people are normally capable of creates enormous ethical conundrums as well as a lot of temptation for someone who despite their capabilities is only human. It is heavily implied that Renarin knew about Adolin's guilt before anyone else and decided not to say anything. In the future especially as he gains more experience with his abilities he will likely be confronted with more. Of course part of his decision was because he loved his brother but he seemed conflicted about it for some time. It is a small wonder then that Truthwatchers were known for an "abundance of tact." People with exceptional abilities in seeing what we cannot to often are unable to see their own failings. The third oath should prevent this. I think it will be along the lines of. "I will speak only for the common good not for personal gain or notoriety." The fourth ideal is about trust. Trust is difficult for everyone but imagine if you had supernatural means to know what people really thought of you or to help you cheat in social engagements or politics. Eventually you will be incentivize to stop trusting people and instead become paranoid damaging your ability to work with others. There are advantages to this school of thought but also many problems with it. As those of us who read Mistborn know trust even if foolish might be worth it. Truthwatchers have to shoulder the burden of not being able to tell everyone everything. They have to sensor their own speech even in causal conversation. This will probably not make them liked. If they take after their Herald many of them will also be scholastically inclined. This means that they may have to work with people who they do not like or have not personally met or examined before. They will also have to trust these people. As such I think the forth ideal for Truthwatchers is "I will not look to attempt to understand everyone but will instead proceed with the assumption that people are good.and deserving." The goal of the Truthwatcher seems to be about see problems for what they are. In their name I can't help but detect a certain cynicism. The problems that a Truthwatcher faces are feel in a way that the problems faced by other orders are not. Orphans, tired parents, street urchins who can't go to school. This is what a Truthwatcher can't help but see. Suffering is something that they cannot avoid. A Truthwatcher must also look to something else. A world where problems are less where there is less suffering. They have to be able to hope for it. I think the last ideal of the Truthwatchers is "I will maintain hope for our future." My pattern of radiant oath theory can be found here if you are interested.

I looked at the source code of the Radiant Quiz and extracted the way an archetypal KR of each order would answer the questions. (e.g.Obedient - Rebellious 90 means that a KR of a given order would put Obedient - Rebellious slider on 90% rebellious) And same data sorted by prompt:

I got sucked into the Fandom during the run up to the release of Oathbringer when TOR was pre-releasing the chapters. Like a Stormlight junkie, I would park my car after dropping my kids off at school and devour the week's new chapter. The thing that got me through to the next chapter release was discussing the chapters on the TOR chapter forum, and there was some great speculation to be sure, but in researching specific items I kept coming across theories on the 17th shard, and the proverbial scales fell away from eyes. I realized at TOR I was taking a community College level course in the Cosmere, when the whole time I could have been studying at the Cosmere equivalent of Oxford. So I joined the Shard, and went to my first Signing, driving 4 hrs in a day and getting back home at 2 in the morning. It was the Oathbringer release, and I got my first WOB about Awakened Toupees. I also got to see what an amazing person Brandon is too, I think he's a large part of why this Fandom is so amazing. The people that participate in discussions here, and who run this site, have the 4 qualities I value most, in equal measure, they are intelligent, kind, funny and amazingly creative. I don't really participate in too many forums, but the 17th shard is special. One of the things that keeps me coming back too is Shardcast. I love the times it spirals into pendantic-cast because the nuance and details they explore are important. High level stuff. My favorite thread, the one that kept pulling me back into the Shard life is Tornament: Cosmere Character Roast Battles. @Zath roasts with Spook burning other Cosmere character's in High Imperial, @Archer roasts as Allomancer Jak roasting people with corrective Handerwyn footnotes, @Herowannabe roasts as Human the Koloss (with awesome custom koloss emojis) and @Paranoid King roast as Tilluane the butler are some of the funniest things I've ever read. Solid gold. The Shakespearean exchange with @Toaster Retribution in the Roast thread about returning his Oryginal Folio Had me dying. When I first came to the shard and was speculating wildly based on intuition instead of facts, I really appreciated the incredibly nice way that @Calderisand @RShara would point out a theories flaws, always with lightning fast WOBs. You know you've got a decent theory it if makes past those two. T is a plant still makes me laugh. @Jofwu post on the Moons of Roshar, and his comprehensive timeline are amazing. @Pagerunner post on the Physics of Allomancy was incredible, and later in that thread the work that one sharder did on creating simulations of different physics models for steel pushing for a video game that he was making (can't remember his username) were really great). Pretty much any thread that @Argent puts out. The thread were you could see the work that went into cracking the women's script. I basically love all the threads (and there really are too many too count) that could be college level thesises with supporting WOB citation. I'm getting really excited for the RoW release! My theory (that's since been debunked) that the Aimians were agents of Cultivation. I got a signed book WOB that put a nail in the theory's coffin, but it was a fun ride until it was over. I have some MP3s that I was recording using the Soundmapper on my computer when that theory was still actively being discussed and they are full of notification sounds that someone replied to that thread, and when I listen to those songs now and hear that little notification burble noise it makes me smile. I loved the time right after OB's release when the theories were coming in hot and fast. My only friend who loves Brandon's work is 400 miles away, so the Shard is where I go when the need to talk about the Cosmere. Thankfully I can relive those times this coming November and I'm super excited y'all will be there! Congratulations on the 10 years! With Brandon's long term plans for the Cosmere in my mind, hopefully I'll still be around to congratulate you on your 50th anniversary!

The Wanderer’s Song That day when days went dim the fish of some unlooked-for pool shone bright and pink and blue. A song. I’d wandered long through endless space debris and dust in search of it. But found it not. Instead, I found a woman. Cunning, knowing, Loving skies. We joined in common enterprise to find the song. The song. One day We landed on a barren hill. “We will not find it here” I said. But she was gone. A fall. No more. It was enough. The hard land drank of her while I turned onwards, ever upwards. I had a longing for the sky. But I got lost in crags then caves where dappled beings slouched and water wormed primordial cracks. I sat beside a pool and thought and saw. That day when days went dim the fish of some unlooked-for pool shone bright and pink and blue. I saw. And wept.

I play some Minecraft. My greatest claim to fame is finding the heart of the sea in hardcore mode, then dying trying to make a fishing pole to get shells for a conduit. SKILLS, AM I RIGHT?

Well... I sketched my character Desmund Kreylaw. I posted pictures in the gallery already, but I thought I should put them here too. I almost decided not too, after seeing how awesome everyone else’s pictures are . I’m by no means a stellar artist, but I hope you like it...

Hot take: we only have one dustbringer because they're usually not the type to geek out about books on the internet.

I can see two possible scenarios here: A. It might be a quality shared among some but not all Shards, possibly one opposed to Passion. The plans to defeat/contain Passion-aligned Shards (Odium, Ruin) we've seen so far seem to cause anguish of truly massive proportions (the Oathpact, mists snapping people) B. If we're talking a Shard, it might represent Adonalsium's Empathy, warped into Anguish by the lack of ability to let go (Ruin) and give up pain (Odium), similarly to how divine wrath became Odium

I am glad that Brandon likes to listen more then speak. Sure not speaking can certainly cause harm but I also worry about what well meaning people do when they don't take the time to educate themselves.