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Hey everybody hope your day is skip-van-doodely hopfantastic! In honor of all my wonderful Shardbuddies I decided to make a list... but not just any list... a story list where each name served as a logical functioning word in the story. Soooo TADA!!! The first few in story form with the rest (and hopefully more) to come quite soon! Chapter 1: Chapter 2: *NEW* Chapter 3: Would be delighted to get even MORE Shardbuddies (even if we haven't ever talked before!) to add to the saga! Let me know below!

As usual whenever the black spheres show up theories start flying around. Everyone including me has some opinion that the facts come together in some obvious and perfect way. I think stepping back and just looking at when information we have in the black and white. Gavilar has duplicates. While I don't think we know the exact number duplicates existing implies that it is either not a single great spren like an unmade or the sibling. The only other possibility is that each one is somehow unique(supported by Navani's description later) but that implies that Gavilar has managed to track down and capture a large number of these. These duplicates are identical(or at least the same class/type of thing). It is heavily invested. Nothing earthshaking but confirmation is good. It is vaguely but not directly related to the Davar household's situation in Jah Kavad It is not directly so not the unmade directly causing all the issues. Navani's PoV in her prologue. No variation in size although great variety in color and brightness. Whatever is in these things variation exists between them. Szeth's PoV Szeth says this is small. Honor's drop by comparison. Is considerably larger. Unless one of the other unmade are much much much smaller then this is not an unmade. A counterpoint is that some of the unmade might be small enough to be contained in this type of housing like Yalig-nar's smokestone. Rlain ITS ALIVE! I really don't see how Rlain could get this impression from something that was not at least sentient. Kaladin gets impressions from stormlight as well but they are much more vague. Nem. Whatever is in there is vary valuable, very dangerous or both. Gavilar would not waste such a secure gemstone for something he could catch easily whenever he felt like it. A counterargument might be he just needed to transport it over long distances but given "the box" is an interplanetary travel device I would think he could launch from wherever he needed to. Summery. It is some type of spren or at least an invested entity. I think that indisputable as it is a type of Odious investiture that is not voidlight. It is probably not an Unmade(I can't prove it is not but a lot of evidence points against it). Different types of it exist, including duplicates, but this one at least is super important and likely would want to escape given the opportunity. PLEASE let me know if I missed something.

The Lopen and The Lord Ruler (no physical harm possible) For about the first hour, TLR would just be absolutely pummeling Lopen, using everything he has in super-steel-speed. He doesn’t know who put him in this room, but he ain’t happy about it. Lopen would take this silently, and finally, after TLR realizes he can’t hurt Lopen, falls to his knees and is like “are you some sort of god?” and Lopen will be like “sure, gancho, now let’s go get some chouta. You like you need some life help.” After a friendly lunch together and a deep conversation, TLR realizes that he’s been an awful ruler, and decides to change and become benevolent. Lopen adopts him into the family and he is officially a cousin. When TLR finally returns to Scadrial, everyone is super confused because out of nowhere TLR is storming down to the skaa hovels in Luthadel all angry-like, and he gets to the Skaa and he says “SKAA. DO YOU KNOW WHY I’M HERE?” and the skaa will be weeping because they’re thinking that this is the end and then TLR says “Why couldn’t the coinshot hit his target? Because he mist!” and all the skaa are super confused and still scared outta their minds, but hey, they’re alive, so they’re not complaining. TLDR: The Lopen will be the savior of Scadrial, making it a land full of puns and hilarity.

I second this...

I was bored... So I made y'all a Lopen emoji. Enjoy! More can be requested...

Maglor: "Dad must have been here at some point. Ashyn is on fire."

This is a very interesting question, we know that Warbreaker is a necessary prequel to the events of the Stormlight Archives, and I always kind of assumed that it was because Nightblood was going to be a major factor in the denouement of the war against Odium. But, more interesting is the thought that maybe the necessity of Warbreaker preceding SLA is that Vasher needs to be on Roshar to fulfill his Divine Intent. We know that Endowment's symbolic number is 5, the tears of edgli is a 5 petaled flower, there were 5 Scholars, and more interestingly that Austrism, the theological teachings of the first Returned Vo, had 5 Visions promoting the virtues of patience, humility, sacrifice, selflessness, and understanding. The two known instances of Returned giving away their Divine breaths and fulfilling their Divine Intents that we know about are (Warbreaker spoilers) There is a pattern in the known cases, namely that the Returned Intents seem to map to the virtues of the 5 Visions, and I think the name that the Cult of the Returned gave Vasher is a big hint as to what the Divine Intent he Returned to fulfill was, Warbreaker the Peaceful. With his nature being that of a Scholar, the Vision (or virtue) that is driving his Intent is likely to be understanding, and the application of that Intent will be using his understanding to stop the war on Roshar. The specifics of how this would play out are just speculation, but one of the main attributes of a gifted Divine breath is its ability to heal. One possible scenario would be that he gives his divine breath to Kaladin during the contest of Champions after it looks like Kaladin has been mortally wounded. That seems a bit mundane, but I really like the idea of Vasher's purpose for returning being the ending of the cycle of Desolations on Roshar.

Oh yeah! Guess what I got today! Well, I guess you can see for yourselves.

I don't think the idea of the Mink betraying the Radiants makes sense with his character. He's known as the general who fought on beyond all hope, continuing a guerilla war at huge costs to himself and his people. That kind of person is not going to give up and give in to the enemy, unless he's had his mind influence by Odium or the Unmade. It seems to me like the Mink has a personal dislike of Dalinar who led the wars that killed his family. But he also understands that the Radiants are really fighting a guerilla war in a lot of ways. The Mink will serve as a good counterpoint to Dalinar and even possibly a lesson to Kaladin. He will show them what an honorable leader can do if he wasn't born to inherit the most powerful army in the world. Dalinar doesn't know because he's been successful at everything he's ever done. Kaladin struggles because he has always been the underdog and it's getting to the point where he feels like giving up hope. I think you're right - Dalinar does still have things to learn. If you think about it Dalinar has never once in his life been the underdog (I guess unless you count his failed romance of Navani when he was young). He's never had to hold out in desperation, knowing he has no allies and no powerful help coming his way. I think the Mink is going to teach him that, in the wake of the Fused invasion of Urithiru - what to do and how to keep going when it seems completely hopeless and no one is coming to your rescue.

I think it is really unlikely, that Vasher will do something great with his Divine Breath, at least in the First Era. That's because Brandon wants his books to be able to stand alone, they have to be understood by those, who haven't read all the cosmere. Awakening is ok, because everyone who didn't read Warbreaker understand that he does something different than Surgebinding, but it isn't essential to know, what it is exactly. BUT, using his Divine Breath for healing someone mortally wounded makes a HUGE difference. Giving up his life has to be something important, so when/if he will do, it has to be a gamechanger. And Brandon wouldn't use a foreign magic as a core fragment in his book. At least not until Mistborn Era 4.

I only wish you could have felt my rising anxiety as I slowly read this page.

*sigh* I hate it when this happens. My mind is so full of information... Don't do history homework for four hours before going to bed. I'm thinking about Saladin and Ashoka and the Byzantine Empire and the Momluk Turks and the Samurai and how they moved from straight swords to curved ones and how their armor is made from leather and about Japanese feudalism and China's influence on Japan and how Japan was attacked by the Mongols twice and about Chompa rice and the Grand Canal. (Sorry for any misspellings. Did I spell misspell right? It looks weird). Yeah, we're transitioning from China to Japan in history. And yes, it's nearly one in the morning. Yes, I'm eating a bagel. Yes, I have school at 6:30 in the morning. (Seminary) Yes, even if I go to bed now and then miss seminary I'll get almost no sleep. I CAN'T GO TO SLEEP. GAH. Shoot. Now I'm thinking about RoW, too. 27 days... There are a solid three status updates in a row with nothing in between. All of them are really weird. Back to reading my book... My bagel is gone now, too, so that sucks...

STORMS STORMS STORMS STORMS STORMS STORMS! I cannot believe we all missed this(at least no one I have seen proposed this). I do not think the Mink is evil. I do not think he is unethical. However I do think he would not be the first patriot to cut a deal betraying two nations he does not like. Taravangian has largely been made. Who would suspect the Mink? Playing larger empires against each other must be a science in Herdaz by now. No way that nation has survived without doing so several times.

As requested and so no one is left out...

For this post, pick two or more characters from any of Sanderson's books, and imagine what would happen if they were put in a room together. You can combine characters from the Cosmere, Reckoners, short stories, interludes, even his most iconic and legendary work, I Hate Dragons, and more. A timeline of events is optional. To start: Put Pattern and M-bot in a room together. Minute 0-5: Both defining themselves to the other Minute 5-10: Realizing human speech is grossly inefficient, they collaborate to create a super-efficient language that only the two of them know. Minute 10-15: After exchanging notes on the nature of humans and what makes them tick, they have planned how to most effectively learn the most about humanity as efficiently as possible. Minute 15-20: They have breached any number of topics, communicating at a speed that rivals that of fiber optics, and have determined 537421 different ways their respective worlds could be destroyed, and 5 different ways each one could be prevented. After that, use your imagination. I don't know what those two would talk about once they have that out of the way.

Whatever the name of the spren is.

Does anyone else really want snow? Because I really want some snow. I mean, I did spend thirty minutes freezing outside of the pool today, so you may as well just send me some snow!

Hit the Rep Button guys! With Rep from that meme(s) and these two behemoths going at it, I might be able to get fifth place!

You happy?

I love how intense this Rosharan Kandra Hunt is, somewhere Brandon is chortling away. And then in the end, all along the kandra was simply a chouta vendor or something. Because everybody eventually breaks down and gets a street cart chouta, and people always talk while they wait for their chouta, and unlike a pub or a bar, a chouta stand can be moved to wherever the kandra needs it to be.

@I Am A Fish @Channelknight Fadran

Buckle up. It's graph time. Brandon made a comment recently at a convention that his writing career is now almost as long as Robert Jordan's was while he was writing the Wheel of Time. The first Wheel of Time book was published in 1990, and the last one before Jordan's death was in 2005. Brandon's first book was in 2005; by 2020, he'll eclipse Jordan's tenure. So, I decided to crunch some numbers and compare them. (I'm including projections for Skyward 2, assuming it's the same wordcount as the first book, and Stormlight 4 at 400,000 words for a November 2020 release.) Brandon has essentially had three writing careers in this time: 1) the Cosmere, 2) his non-Cosmere stuff, and 3) writing the final Wheel of Time Trilogy. Here's a comparison of Robert Jordan's writing speed to each of Brandon's careers, and Brandon's total speed. Notice that each line has a dashed average. This represents the average writing speed for that career. A couple things I found interesting: Robert Jordan had a significant drop off. You can see that sharp angle about five years in, between WoT books 6 and 7. He maintained that later speed fairly well, up til the end. I suspect you'll see that with many other successful authors, for reasons creative or personal, but... Brandon's total writing speed has remain essentially unchanged. He has matched Jordan's initial pace fairly well, and his total wordcount (solid line) stays pretty true to the average (dashed line). There's some funky stuff going on around WoT, where Brandon was working harder than usual, but that was making up for a bit of a slower start. (More on that later.) After WoT, his total writing speed and each of his career writing speeds have tracked their average very closely. Brandon's Cosmere career has remained remarkably consistent. Even though there was that huge slowdown with Cosmere books during WoT, the initial post-Mistborn push, with Warbreaker and Way of Kings releasing, was enough to keep things averaged out until Brandon could finish up WoT and write Words of Radiance. (The solid blue line gets well above the average at the 5-year mark, but stays pretty flat until the WoR release.) As he's settled in to his groove after WoT, it gets a little choppier, but that's an effect of writing bigger books. He's still writing the same amount of words. Brandon's non-Cosmere career has.... remained remarkably consistent. This career actually has two regimes, which is why I included multiple averages. The uppermost red dashed line is the total non-Cosmere average, and it rides well above the solid red line. This indicates that the trend is concave up; Brandon is writing more and more non-Cosmere than he used to. But it's not a gradual process; after WoT, he started working on stuff like Reckoners and Skyward. So I gave non-Cosmere another average trendline with two segments; you'll see the inflection point right around 3000 days, with the release of Rithmatist. Since then, he's been pretty consistent in the amount of non-Cosmere he wrote. Brandon's Wheel of Time career is pretty obscene. The green dashed line is essentially the same slope as the blue dashed line. Brandon wrote twice as hard as he used to when he started working on Wheel of Time. My man. I crunched the numbers. I can't deny them. Brandon's pumping out Cosmere books just as fast as he used to. But 2019 is the second year ever we have had no Cosmere stories published. (Not counting White Sand, since Brandon didn't write anything for those.) The first time it happened... 2018. It feels like we haven't been getting as much Cosmere, and so many stories have been waiting years for their resolutions. (The gap between Bands of Mourning and Lost Metal will be larger than between Alloy of Law and Shadows of Self. Rithmatist and Alcatraz have been hanging out forever, with the end always just around the corner. Even Legion, a novella trilogy, took seven years to complete.) I think the answer to this is scope creep. Brandon's not writing any slower, but his plans are getting bigger and bigger. Each Stormlight book is larger than the last. Plans are changing - Skyward was a secret project, followed up by Children of the Nameless as another Secret Project. We'll still get as many words; but waiting a long time for 1 Stormlight book book feels more painful than 3 Mistborn books totaling the a similar amount of words. Same thing for the non-Cosmere projects waiting for their finales; it's not that Brandon doesn't have time, it's that he devotes his time to a different project, instead. If we take Brandon's average writing rates (Cosmere: 191K words/year; non-Cosmere: 134K words/year), and we assume he's gonna be writing Stormlight (400K ea), Mistborn/Elantris (250K ea), and W&W/YA (120K ea), that gets us projected release dates of: This is all assuming he sticks to the average. Which, so far, has been a good long-term bet, but not a good short-term bet. So I'd expect these releases to be more clumped together, as he'll alternate what's getting focused time. My final projected Cosmere completion date is 2055. A nice, round 50 years. (My last estimate I put together, back when Brandon was working on Oathbringer, was in 2052. Over three years, the projection has moved back three years. Uh oh... let's not focus too much on that. I was much less rigorous in my analysis.) What we've seen from the Wheel of Time excursion, though, is that Brandon is not writing at his maximum capacity. About one-third of his WoT writing speed was transferred over to his current non-Cosmere work. (I'd guess the remaining two-thirds turned into family time, since he started having kids right around then. [Well, his wife started having kids. You know what I mean.]) If push comes to shove and Brandon decides to make a focused effort to knock out more Cosmere books, his pace can increase considerably, even without cutting back on his non-Cosmere writing hours. If he were to go full-speed ahead, nothing but Cosmere, I'd project a 2037 completion date; 32 years from start to finish. Obviously, it won't be that. (At the very least, he'd have to fit Rithmatist 2 in there, which would push the whole thing to 2039, somehow.) But based on Brandon's 15-year career so far, it looks like the Cosmere will last between 32 and 50 years. Which doesn't seem terribly unreasonable. In conclusion, please don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to say anything about what Brandon should or shouldn't be writing. I just like the data, and I think we can learn a lot based on what Brandon has accomplished so far. He prides himself on his consistency. (That's his canned answer about how he writes so much; he's not fast, he's just consistent.) And that's exactly what the data shows.

I really like that even though Dalinar has taken responsibility for his actions, the lives he tore apart are still addressed, through people like Lirin and the Mink. It's pretty easy to ignore everything that he's done, especially since almost all the characters that we care about have been either not really affected, or positively affected by him. (Of course, another major factor was the fact that Dalinar's bloody history was introduced in book three).

And if the ‘Feanor’s spirit is in the gems’ theory is correct, we could have a Feanor CS! But I think Maglor would be very dangerous on Roshar. [Sings with perfect resonance at full power. Large portion of Roshar shatters.]

@Channelknight Fadran I changed my title for you... You're going down.

Of course, I need to reclaim my crown as top of the leaderboard so... Rithmatist 2 memes: Kaladin depression memes:

Grumble. A lot.

^ I'm too scared to quote, so...

Lol just adding to the saga but @Aspiring Writer I think you're good on @s 1 ping or 5 they all take him to the same thread

Yes, my plan worked. Mwhahahahaa. I hope he replies to that. XD Come at me @Chaos. Hahaha Please don't ban me or give me warning points

@Aspiring Writer

Sorry, first time uploading a video on here. Here's the youtube version. ENJOY! Also, @Chaos, i have a feeling this a good way to intruduce myself. You'll see what i mean. Spoilered for size.

I'm actually quite proud of this one:

Until it's discussed further, we won't know. All we can do is compose Keteks. Nergaoul with fishies.; Hopefully aluminum also; Yes. Padlocks too. Padlocks? Yes.; Also aluminum hopefully; Fishies with Nergaoul.

Sorry if this was already mentioned, haven't read all the discussion yet, but I think Gav is small "for his age" because of the strange time dilation that was going on in the palace. Like the freed "loyalists" who were shocked when they found out how much time had passed.

While this is totally true there is a different WoB saying, that even a non Nalthian could Return. So @NightbloodforPM's question was really good. But yes, Vasher is a native Nalthian.

And what about Adolin being in two orders?? He do the Stoneward oath and then Maya "revive" and Adolin will be in two orders. What about that?

I think he's already completed the role Endowment originally intended. Traveling to Roshar early on, researching shard blades, traveling back to Nalthis, participating in the creation of Nightblood, killing his lover to prevent further Nightbloods from being created, and finally bringing Nightblood to Roshar. Nightblood is a rather permanent solution for the Fused problem, and appeared on Roshar at just the moment when the previous Oathpact solution was finally collapsing. He might possibly have a further role to play, but for now he seems completely checked out.

My Anxiety didn't rise slowly. It rose exponentially.

The theory does hold water. My biggest issue would be why a kandra would bother leading a Herdazian war against Odium, which was doomed from the start. Furthermore, my personal preference would be if the Mink was just the Mink. He is way too fun to be a kandra, in my opinion.

Hold on,why do we think the gem Navani was inspecting contains an Unmade? They had access to the Kings Drop after it captures Nergaoul and she doesnt reference it when thinking about this new gem,nothing about similarities and all

Maybe the reason the artifabrians haven't been able to recreate shardplate is because no one thought to switch their calculators from degrees to radiants.

My pet has an unfortunate case of never existing.