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Me *spends 3 hours building a cactus farm in Minecraft* Cactus farm: I ain’t working. Me: Please? Cactus farm: nope Me: *grabs the tnt*

I think at this point, we've all heard the "Shallan's mother was Chanarach theory". If you hadn't the main points of evidence gathered up through RoW were: Appearances. Most notably, the physical similarities between the released images of Chana and Shallan are also pretty obvious. Process of elimination. Sanderson has said that most (possibly all) of the modern heralds were mentioned on page in WoK, and we've found most of them. Kalak, Shallash, Jezerin, and Nale are obvious. Battar is Dova, and Paliah was confirmed as the ardent in the Palanaeum. I am fairly convinced Lyss is Vedel. Chana has no other good candidates. The Davar household is full of more secrets than Kelsier. Sh*t was clearly going down there, with everyone from Hoid to the Unmade to the Knights of Honor getting involved. Personality. Chana should be acting as an inversion of brave/obedient, which Shallan's mother fits with. The might also be something to the mental troubles of Shallan and her siblings also (WoB) having some magical elements, almost like the herald's insanity. It might just be the UnMade, but it might not be... Overall, I thought it was an interesting theory, but more on the tinfoil-side. However, I think the just released Stromlight 5 Prologue reveals some info that blew my mind, and I starting to get on board. First, and more simply, we get on page confirmation that Chana does have bright real hair (previous evidence was "in-universe" and could have been inaccurate). This really reinforces Chana's red hair, and draws an obvious connection to some of the only other (non-horneater) gingers, the Davars. Chana being a redhead is also important enough to emphasize as canon, so unless it's a red (lol) herring, it should be relevant. Before I go into the second, I want to shout out this theory (@teknopathetic), since the reveals are basically supporting evidence for the main idea laid out here. TLDR: Chana is Shallan's mother, Shallan killed Chana and sent her back to Braize. Channa later breaks and releases the Oathpact/Taln. So we get this in released Prologue: So, one of the heralds dies the same day as Gavilar and the Stormfather (somehow?) covers it up. The phrasing, particularly the commentary "The Oathpact" suggests to me that this was 'return-to-Braize' died, and not perma-killed a la Jezerin by Moash. All this explains how/why Taln came back to Roshar after the Battle of the Tower. One of the Heralds returned to Braize, and then held out ~6 years until they broke, which released them and Taln back to Roshar. What's even more interesting is that Gavilar and the mystery Hearld die in 1167. The year Shallan kills her mother? 1167.

Shardle, our Brandon-themed version of Wordle, is now live! Feel free to share and discuss your results here. Read our full announcement if you have no idea what I'm talking about.

Hi everyone! I’m really sorry it’s been so long since I last posted. I’ve been having some mental health problems and haven’t been able to read Rhythm of War yet, so I’ve been staying off this site to avoid spoilers. I’m hopeful that I can finish reading it soon, though, and hopefully will be able to return sometime soon!

Many people have been wondering whether the stormfather we see is he. Some of the behavior/appearance is strange. Which means that information that he gives us may be unreliable. Can we also stop for a minute to appreciate that Gavilar was far less competent than he thought that he was? It was so good to watch him be oblivious to all of the wonderful secrets playing out around him.

I get this kind of sentiment for George RR Martin and Patrick Rothfuss. But, Brandon puts out Cosmere content on a pretty regular basis, he's much better than the aforementioned authors in that regard. For anyone who loves reading, it's wise to have a few authors like Brandon in your rotation that put out books on a yearly basis to make waiting for books that take multiple years bearable.

Provided it is actually close in meaning and not just him needing to speech true, I put forth "Give me the burden."

I thought of another pretty significant way my faith has impacted me: How I grieve. I've been lucky not to lose too many people I love so far, but when I have, it doesn't hurt as much as I think it does for a lot of people. And that's because with every one of those loved ones, they were Christian, and incredibly strong in their faith. So yes, it hurts, but it's also lessened because I know I'll see them in heaven when my time comes. Even when it was the long goodbye, it wasn't, because in a way, it was a goodbye for now. Just something I've mused on in the past few months.

Disclaimer, I support people believing whatever they think is right and true, and I don't mean this to be a condemnation of any belief or religion, only to share my own experiences and thoughts. I'm not going to get into the negative much here, but feel free to PM me. I was raised LDS, and the impact it had on me was largely negative. I wrote a draft of this post before this one and was actually surprised to find that I couldn't think of much that was positive about it. My faith in God has had many positive effects on me, but not so with the organized religion I was in. I've been much happier and more sure of myself and my Heavenly Parents since I left. I think I am impacted for the better by knowing God(s), though not in the way I used to think I did. It reminds me to love people and look for hope and know we can make things better without bringing the ideas of sin or hatred or "wrong" ways to love or to be into it, as long as you're not hurting others. I know there's always someone who loves me and will always love me. I know that no one can choose my path but myself. I know that life is so much more than God, made richer by the fact that they want it to be. We are our own people and I love that. Anyway, I'm getting carried away, but yeah! Religion and faith are separate for me, and had different impacts. And I'm so happy to be where I am now.

Randomly placed alleys would be quite interesting, especially if they also ended up being random portals through space. I do feel like if several changes are happening to the Alleys they should have some "source", even if that source is as general as something happening to Alley 0 like it gaining sapience or going unstable. I like it!

I had another idea for next era, but it could be ridiculous. Going off the sort of “post-Forgery instability” vein, and the idea of Alleys behaving more oddly or “coming alive,” perhaps Alleys could begin to appear in places that aren’t actually alleys. Like a closet or a dark hallway or any narrow dark space. And the Alleys themselves are sort of…hunting. Like they devour whoever walks in or something. This could potentially happen even within the Alleys themselves, like the Alleys are Alleytravelling. This would make things difficult even for the most powerful DA characters and also involve the wider community.

I want to say something cool for my first post, but don't know what to say, but if I did, you'd be like that's a cool thing to say for a first post. So can we all just pretend I said something cool in this post?

Cycle Five: The Gardener's Choice Three years ago, Daian went to Eaton Strikk about the matter of a weed. To be exact, a flowering thorn had taken root in his garden, strangling his vegetables, and choking them. He couldn’t exactly work out where it’d come from, but focused on the problem at hand. The flowers were lovely: violet, with a soft fragrance that reminded him of the air after a storm. But the thorns were choking his plants, and he couldn’t have that. Three years ago, no one accused Eaton Strikk of being a Darkfriend. Everyone knew that if you wanted your garden to flourish, you talked to Dagr, and if Dagr wasn’t in a talking mood, there was always Eaton Strikk. Strikk listened, and went over to Daian’s garden where he bent over and inspected the thorn, and then pulled on thick gloves, the sort you used for gardening. “Do I uproot it then?” Daian asked. The flowers were beautiful, and so was the scent. But he was torn deeply between the scent of rain, and the need to ensure his vegetables survived. “You make the gardener’s choice,” Strikk said, shortly, cupping the plant in his callused hands. Moments before he dug into the soil, examining how deep the roots go with his knife. “Which is a flower? Which is a weed?” Daian understood: what was to be valued, and what was to be eradicated without mercy. You killed the weeds, because they killed what was to be valued. What mattered in this world. These things, Daian thought, were not written into the world, not the same way that sunlight was good, and the clear taste of water down a parched throat was good, and the sharp sting of burns from the cook-fire was bad. When Rambler and Lin Mindrigurin and Jóhannsson and Xin dragged each other before Mayor Wilsa, shouting accusations, demanding judgement, and they looked at him, and Mayor Wilsa wanted to know what he thought, Daian looked back at them, lost. He tried. He really did. But these things are not written into the world. The hearts of men are not sunlight, are not well water, are not cook-fire burns, are not the sting of nettles. And Daian, for all of his faults, has been little more than a gardener. While he had participated in the hunt for the Darkfriends, it had been more out of a sense of obligation than a capacity to find evil hidden in the hearts of fellow villagers, some of whom had lived in Helgen for years and years. “I think Lin Mindrigurin is suspicious,” he replied. For no particular reason that that Rambler had taken to asserting furiously that Lin had truck with the Shadow, to which Lin had replied that he had fought on the Blightborder while Rambler had hidden away in Helgen. Surely someone who had fought on the Blightborder and walked away was the sort of person who might broker deals with the Shadow, might slowly defect to what he had once fought. But then there was Xin. Xin, who as Lin Mindrigurin had pointed out, had accused Stieg, and seemed hellbent on damning Jóhannsson as a Darkfriend next. Was Jóhannsson a Darkfriend? Daian didn’t know. The thought of the sort of man who made music being a laughing servant of the Shadow sat ill with him. The gardener’s choice, he thought. You just decided, which was the weed. And then you moved on with your life. “I think it’s Xin,” he said. “Lin…He doesn’t seem that sort. He just doesn’t.” Weak, even to him, but Mayor Wilsa nodded gravely, as though he had pronounced judgement. It wasn’t judgement, though. Not quite. The others were still accusing each other; Kai was accusing Xin, while Lin had decided that Lorum Ipsum, who had largely kept to himself since the discovery of Gamen’s death, was more suspicious than Xin. He was just one voice, after all. Still, thought Daian, as he walked home to his garden, home to his world of vegetables and flowers and weeds, he had made his choice. Someone else had made a different choice. Silently, so silently that Daian hadn’t heard, a shadow padded after him. A garotte looped about his throat all of a sudden and then drew tighter, and tighter, unyielding, no matter how Daian choked and struggled and gasped for air. Eventually, Daian stopped struggling. We are all weeds, in someone else’s eyes. Edler limped into the Tree, with Gaeta supporting him, and looking up from the counter, Wyden blinked. “Light’s mercy, man,” he murmured. “You look like you fought a warband of Trollocs in the Blight.” Blood stained his bandages. “I feel like it,” Edler muttered. “He’ll need food,” Gaeta said matter-of-factly. “Healing exhausts the patient.” She helped Edler to the stairs, clearly intending to return to their rooms. “But…where did you get injured?” Wyden managed, confused. He supposed there was a stew he had heating at the fire that he could bring up to them. “I told you,” said Edler. “The Shadow is at work in this town.” “Gaidin,” snapped Gaeta, in exasperation, her words as unforgiving as the mule driver’s stick. Edler looked at her. “His arms. His wrists. The scars. I noticed them the other day. They’re harder to make out within the inn, but then he was by the stables while everyone was talking about the gambler’s death, and I saw them for the first time.” Gaeta’s eyes narrowed. “You’re sure?” She turned to Wyden. “Show me,” she said, imperiously. “What does that have to do with anything?” Wyden objected. “Show her,” Edler prompted. “No,” Wyden said, shaking his head. No. Not again. Blood and bloody ashes, not again. Not another Aes Sedai. Part of his mind was retreating to the cellar, to the rack of thorns, to the Embrace of Pain, the weave that Edler had named proscribed. Forbidden. He couldn’t trust them. Couldn’t bring himself to. And yet there was Edler. There was the conversation of the sword. Cool fingers grasped at his wrist, turned it over, and Wyden lashed out, but Edler was there, holding him firmly by the shoulders. “Peace, innkeeper,” he said. “She needs to see this.” “She doesn’t need to,” Wyden snapped. They were his scars, his past, and all he could see in that moment was the gloom of the cellar, the glint of the Great Serpent ring on the channeller’s finger, and her ageless face, smiling as the thorns dug through his flesh. “She does,” Edler said, grimly. “I told you that no Aes Sedai would. That it was the work of a channeller who serves the Shadow.” Wyden looked at him. “I told you,” Edler growled, but this time, his gaze was on Gaeta, as though there was a quiet conversation that Wyden was not privy to. “There is a Dreadlord in Helgen.” “Dreadlord?” Wyden asked. “Channeller sworn to the Shadow,” Edler said, flatly, distaste lacing his words. “Or Black Ajah. Take your pick. The Aes Sedai all say there is no Black Ajah, but I think we’re past the point of raw denial.” He looked over at Wyden, with the air of a man revisiting an old argument. “Fell things happen on the Blightborder. A forbidden weave being used to kill a man doesn’t count. What sort of threat could that gambler have posed that a true Aes Sedai would feel compelled to kill him in that way?” “We knew this already,” Gaeta stated. “The Gateways. The residue from the weaves. There is something very, very wrong buried within this village, and the Shadow has its thumb on the pulse of it.” She released her grip on his wrist. For a moment, he thought he could see her gaze was troubled, before her expression assumed Aes Sedai calm, like a still lake on a moonless night. “The scars are distinctive,” she said, quietly. And to Edler, “If you were any other man, if this were any other day…” said Gaeta, at last. “I would have struck you for this.” She looked troubled. “The White Tower’s official position is that the Black Ajah does not exist. If I had not seen with my own eyes that this gambler had been killed in this same manner…” “If it quacks like a duck, and swims like a duck, what else can it be?” Edler challenged her. The corners of her mouth slanted in a smile. “So be it. Highly improbable for a wilder to have discovered the Embrace of Pain on her own. So whoever our Dreadlord is, she was taught.” “What does that have to do with me?” Wyden snapped. Edler said, “Where did you get those scars?” A single moment can change the course of a life. In the stories, Waes Starsworn’s life changed for the first time when he loosed the fatal arrow that slew a king. In the stories, a fateful meeting at a fountain, for instance, or in the plazas of Tar Valon or the manors of Cairhien could alter the course of a life forever. It was not a moment that changed the course of Wyden’s, but a span of time—he was never quite sure how long it was; pain seemed to change the way you measured time. Always the same thing, as the thorns dug into his flesh, writhed beneath his skin, crept along his arms, growing ever so slowly towards his throat and eyes. Shift schedules. Passphrases. He resisted at first. Fought it, held off the pain with stubborn steel. But even bright steel was dulled by rust. He accepted the pain then, fed it steadily into the flame and the void, felt it leave him. There was pain. And then there was the oneness. But the pain grew and grew, twisting deep into his flesh, until he screamed and screamed and then there was no oneness, only him, only Wyden, only suffering. He leaned into the pain, then. Let it blossom in his mind. If it hurt enough, he would scream everything and anything. He couldn’t break. He had to hold. In the end, he didn’t. Shift schedules. Passphrases. Even the Fade, gliding past him, hidden somehow from their sight as he mumbled beautiful lies and the soldiers at the guard post believed him, even when the shreds of his decency screamed for him to stop, to warn them, to take it all back. The thorns stopped him. They always did. Everyone has a breaking point. And Wyden had found his. “An Aes Sedai of the Black Ajah,” Gaeta spat, as though the words pained her to utter them. “Could she have taught our Dreadlord, I wonder?” She said, almost to herself. “Surely I would know if there was Black Ajah activity here, of all places.” “She said I was lucky,” Wyden whispered, and watched as both Gaeta and Edler started. “Survived a fight that should’ve killed me. Six men, without injury. The sort of thing you only hear in gleeman’s tales.” Edler said, “One man does not fight six without injury.” “I know.” “Lucky, always lucky…” Gaeta said aloud, strumming her fingers against the counter. “There is some connection there, I know it. But what?” The last of the votes were cast and Mayor Wilsa looked up from counting the last wooden token in the cup, her eyes hard. She’d seen enough winters, as mayor, though she wore her age only lightly. “Xin,” she said, and the words came out as iron. “You are charged by your fellow villagers with conspiracy with the Shadow.” Xin bore the news with stoic indifference. “I’m no Darkfriend,” he said. He looked around the room. “I don’t think Lan is either, but I’m not sure about the rest of you. I know it doesn’t matter to most of you that I’m innocent. But if you keep on rooting out those of us who have been in Helgen for years, then you’re going to fall to the Shadow. And maybe that’s what the Shadow wants.” For a moment, a single, hopeful moment, Xin thought that the others gathered might listen to him. He thought that Rambler was frowning, that Kai kept their own counsel, but maybe Kai would take his words to heart, that Jóhannsson, if he was true, if he was of the Light even though Xin feared otherwise, would listen, would relent, would turn aside from that course of action. “No,” said Lin Mindrigurin. “No.” The moment shattered, like thin ice in the washbasin in the heart of winter. “This man is innocent,” Lin said. “I don’t believe it. How can you live with yourselves, listening to him, and damning him to death?” His pale eyes raked across the room. “Lorum Ipsum. You orchestrated this, didn’t you? You and your fellow Darkfriends—” “Enough,” said Mayor Wilsa, and her words cut through the furious clamour that had once again erupted in the room. “Enough!” Silence fell. “Xin, Elder of Helgen,” she said, her words leaden with formality and finality. “You have been charged of conspiracy with the Shadow. You are sentenced to death.” “He’s innocent!” Lin snapped. “Do your duty,” Mayor Wilsa said. Lin met her eyes. At last, he sighed, and bowed his head. “Death is lighter than a feather, duty heavier than a mountain,” he murmured, regretfully. The old Borderlander saying, come home to roost. Xin was bound, and taken to Brosca’s Point. He did not fight it. What was the use? A shape, falling. Dwarfed by the immensity of stone and sky. Blood on stones. The harsh cry of ravens at dusk, as the fog crept into Helgen once again. More blood, to buy another sunrise. There was always a sacrifice. We always make choices. xinoehp512/Xin was executed! He was a Village Elder! Thaidakar the Ghostblood/Daian was killed! He was a Villager! Cr: @Experience, as promised: The cycle has begun, and will end on 5th April, 0100hrs SGT (GMT+8)! Please be reminded not to post in this thread until I've reserved the second post for the player list and rule clarifications, thank you! @Orlok Tsubodai has failed to post for one cycle. Please be reminded that failure to post for this subsequent cycle will get you filter-killed or replaced.

fun fact: the CaJCL's White Book's fourth rule says "Confetti, bubbles, or rice are not allowed" why no rice?

So first to stress, not saying this to imply this changes anything or is a win. Just something I thought of that I’m surprised no one thought of. So cohesion takes thing that are “solid” or “rigid” and makes them like liquid or malleable right? Tension takes that which is flexible or “soft” and makes it rigid by lining up the axi. Like taking a piece of paper and making it like steel. Couldn’t a radiant or herald with tension make their body so strong or “tense” that no amount of force would dent them?

I'm so excited!!! This is going to be so great!!!

Yellow glow: "These words are accepted"

I’ve been listening to…. Olivia Rodrigo????? I’ve had a recent catastrophe with a boy, and her music helped me get over it. It might sound really childish though I really like her music, she has break-up songs, jealousy songs, forgiving songs. It’s all pretttyyyy great..

I think you are correct, but I also think the Sibling is correct. Two sides of the same coin. I believe what the sibling meant was Dabbid would have the ability to heal once he bonds with a spren - meaning his mental illness can't be healed through normal medicinal means. BUT you are also correct - even if he bonds a with a spren, that healing will only take place so long as his spiritual identity is of himself without the illness, just like Lopen's spiritual identity included having two arms. If his self identity firmly included the mental illness, it would not heal through stormlight, like what happened with Kaladin's slave brands for 3/4 of the books.

So I finally had the time to read the prologue, and holy expletive! This was an interesting one. As many have stated Gavilar knew so little, I almost felt bad for the poor dude. However, every time I almost did, he chose to act like crem, so I guess he had it coming. That was one thing that surprised how he chose to act cold and cruel and manipulative, even as he sometimes doubted it. In the end he always doubled down on it. A couple of other things of note (before weighing in on the "Stormfather vs Stormfaker" debate): "Ba-Ado-Mishram. Granter of Forms. Their other god. The one who could rival Him. The one…we betrayed" . Yes it was said by Kalak, and we should never trust a Herald as they are insane. Yet, claiming a spren could rival a Shard? That is a big claim. Note that he does not say that Mishram thought she could rival Odium, he syas that she could. Maybe the original Godspren Adonalsium left on Roshar were bigger deal than we thought. The second interesting part is that Kalak claims they betrayed Ba-Ado-Mishram, how would they do that? Maybe I am missing something or forgot something, but from the reports we have on the False Desolations it was Humans+Radiants vs Parshmen, so how could they betray Mishram? Maybe Heralds pushed her/made deal with her that allowed her to Connect to Parshmen (Ishar could probably do it)? And when it went very wrong they backed out, and helped Radiants seal her. But why would they do that? It seems we have confirmation that aluminum boxes can be used to transport Investiture in Shadesmar even when ordinarily the Connection would make it impossible. Relevant quotes All of this pretty much confirms that aluminum boxes alleviate to some extent the usual issues that appear when trying to transport strongly Connected Investiture like Stormlight or Voidlight. However, the technique they use does not yet allow transport on solar distances, only within the same solar system. And now onto SF vs SF: I am not fully sure, but I do think that at least some of the time there is another entity masquerading as Stormfather. At first I thought that when it is invisible it was fake and when it was present with shimmer it was Stormfather. However it was the shimmering presence that reacted to "Give it to me,” Gavilar said. “Now. I need it." by saying it was almost the Words, so that would go against it. Despite that, the behavior is far too different through most of the chapter for me to think it is Stormfather. My evidence Different font - not very strong piece, considering the entity switches at the end of chapter Wildly different behavior in interaction with Gavilar vs Dalinar - could be explained by SF changing his mind, as he states at the end of chapter he regrets how he approached Gavilar, however this would not explain other seeming discrepancies Claims to seek replacement Herald not Bondsmith - this seems to me as one of the stronger ones. At the start the entity seems to be implying it needs a replacement Herald as they are discussing Aharietiam. Through the chapter it is also trying to make sure Gavilar understands what would await him (torture), which is fate of a Herald not of a Radiant. Closer to end it hesitates in saying he will become Herald implying a lie, however it then describes fate of Herald I would venture a guess that this entity wants Gavilar to become 'Herald' in the sense of someone bound to Oathpact and tortured on Braize. Howeve, Gavilar would not get Honorblade (as Honor is dead), nor any other powers outside of immortality. In other words, he would mainly get the negatives and very little of perks. This would explain the hesitation in my mind, as it would not be 'true' Herald-dom as Gavilar would expect it. The entity claims only most Heralds are insane - As far as I know, the only ones denying insanity of all Heralds were also Heralds; denying either their own (Ishar), or of others (Nale, Shalash). Claims "It is not the destination that matters, but how one arrives there." is not even close to Words - could be explained as the Intent behind the Words was not close Claims "Give it to me. Now. I need it" is almost the Words - This does not sound like any Radiant Ideal at all, much less any Oath. It does sound very void-y thought. (Give me your pain and all that) Is not emotional about Recreance - The Stormfather is very angry about Recreance and its consequences (his behavior towards Kal, protectiveness of Sibling, etc.). In contrast the entity describes it as unfortunate and necessary, but does not sound very emotional to me. Calls Gavilar its tool The behavior of "Stormfather" is inconsistent - Gavilar himself notes that the Stormfather sometimes behaves one way, and other times another way Provides different answer to the same question - Gavilar twice asks if the Stormfather regerts choosing him, both times phrasing it the same "Do you regret choosing me?". Once the entity gives a non-answer ("You are the one I have chosen.") and the second time does reply he regrets how he treated him "I regret, the Stormfather said, the way I have treated you. " The entity can feel Herald being killed - as far as I remember only other Heralds were shown to be affected? If Bondsmiths are meant to be guiding, Gavilar is manipulative (and not for the good of anyone but himself) Each piece is not necessarily definitive proof, but there is so many of them, it feels like something is going on. Now of course, if something is going on what is it? I think there are only three candidates, Ishar, some Voidspren (fragment of Mishram?), or some part of Tanavast. My evidence for each: Ishar: Faker claims to seek replacement Herald, Ishar in his moment of greater lucidity wants to remake the oathpact Ishar already had Bondsmith-like powers prior to becoming a Herald (hence should not need his blade at least for some feats), and Bondsmith powers predate both Heralds and Radiants The entity can feel Herald being killed Claims only most Heralds are insane (would not consider himself insane) Piece of Mishram the entity disapproves of Radiant-like words, but approve of more emotional and voidish ones the entity seeks only one 'Herald' (at least Gavilar has that impression) and Mishram would only seek one 'Voidsmith' Gavilar behaves as a sort of twisted mirror of Bondsmith (manipulative instead of guiding, pragmatic/profane instead of pious) however Mishram as far as we know has nothing to do with Oathpact -> so why would it react to Herald being killed? Piece of Tanavast entity has access to visions entity has interest in Oathpact and redoing it can feel Herald being killed (Honor was part of Oathpact, so it would make sense to have remaining connection) I will add that the other option, that it is Stormfather, he does lie and he has some agenda is a very intriguing possibility in its own right, as it would create quite a bit of tension throughout the book.

Vivica stared intently at Reshilore as he attempted to guess, finally breaking into a beaming smile as he came to it at last. ”Yes!” She cried, giving a tiny hop. “It’s Bennington!” Then she looked up and to the side, where Bennington was glowing a very proud violet indeed. “See, Bennington, I knew he’d guess it!” Vivica looked past Reshilore to the newcomer in the hall. She had a familiar look, a friendly look. Vivica could definitely imagine her in a baking coat. “Hello! You came in just in time. We are playing a guessing game, and it is turning into a real corker.” @kenod She was about to hand Reshilore a new piece of paper when Bennington, who had begun to swim more loops around the man, stopped at his side and pointed at something. Vivica cocked her head, moving a bit closer. ”Bennington? What is it?” Bennington swam another loop, then pointed again. Vivica rubbed her nose. This was most unusual, but then, Vivica liked unusual. ”Mr. Reshilore,” she said as she shuffled blank sheets of paper, licking her finger as she got a rather deep paper cut, “I do believe there is something very interesting in your pocket.” @Fatebreaker

Not necessarily. The only clear case of that, I'd say, is Scadrial's technological freeze under the Lord Ruler; Taldain was cut off from exporting its technology, but not destroyed or anything. The cosmere timeline is supposed to be something like 10,000 years total, but that extends into the sci-fi tech future; that's not too far off the timeline for civilization on Earth really. And scholarly attention that in RL would be directed to natural science/technology goes to Investiture stuff in the cosmere. Roshar's technology is medieval at best, but they are having a Scientific Revolution with fabrial science... but could that be extrapolated to physical science/technology? Possibly not. Same for all the work going to Awakening stuff on Nalthis, etc. And technological progress isn't necessarily automatic, even in our world. Most civilizations have had a relatively slow pace of progress. IIRC a thousand years ago the idea of technological progress wasn't 'natural' to people; they illustrated classical and Biblical characters in armor and weapons of their own time, and that didn't seem wrong to them the way it would to us. (To us, it's a natural assumption that technology changes over time.) And many things were invented but not used much. The Maya had the wheel and axle, but apparently never put it to practical use. The Romans had primitive steam engines certainly by the first century AD and likely by the first century BC, but nothing useful was ever really done with them. China developed small, simple hot air balloons in the first few centuries AD (Kongming lanterns) but they were not developed into human-carrying vehicles. Etc.

If I'm getting rafoed (yes, that's totally a word), I must be asking the right questions. Crap, I'm reading it on kindle. Harder to flip back. CHAPTER 5 So far I like Kaladin more than Shallan. Jasnah seems like such a jerk, and Shallan's plan is to (1) convince her to take her on after Jasnah has said no, (2) stay close to her, and (3) steal from her. There is SO MUCH that can go wrong with this plan. Wondering if Shallan blinking in order to remember things is some kind of magical ability or just an unusual habit. I hope we find out soon why Shallan stealing the soulcaster will help her family. And does she expect to be able to steal it without Jasnah realizing it was her? I wonder which are rarer: shardblades or soulcasters. So yeah. Terrified for the next Shallan chapter, but also curious what she's gonna come up with to try and convince Jasnah.

We know that Radiant oaths are more about the person swearing them than actual words. See how the first Oath is accepted for Lopen saying the words randomly but not for others explicating trying to tempt a spren. Or how Kaladin knew the 4th Oath, but couldn't say it. Or even how the wording of the Oath varies based the Radiant swearing it. I know it's not clear if the "words" or in fact the Radient Oaths, but I assume other elements of Honor's magic would work the same way. I really think it's the meaning here, not the actual words that the Stormfather says is "closer". Basically what @Morningtide said. Gavilar spends the entire Prologue explicitly lying and generally prevaricating to Stormfather. This is the only time we see him say something to Stormfather that is from the heart, that is honest. So it's not that "give it to me. Now. I need it." is anything like the Oath/Words, but Stormfather is trying to Gavilar to realize that self-reflection and honesty are necessary. Like obviously being an asshole/morally corrupt doesn't bar you from becoming a Bondsmith, you just have to move forward from that version of yourself.

Do you think it could be related to the story of the man with the stone. Perhaps the most important words are "help me"

"The world ended, and Shallan was to blame. - Words of Radiance, Chapter 10. Mentioned by @honorblades ---- If Chana is the dead herald, I think we should talk about what the Bright Light Shallan and her father see was. What did Lin put into the safe? Why did he act so quickly to lock the item up? When I first put the Chana theory forward, my main point was that the Bright Light in the safe did not make any sense and that I did not believe that Shallan just hallucinated the whole event. That was the key element that snapped the theory into my mind. When we learned about Shallan's first spren and her trip to the garden, I was then 100% sure something magical was indeed put into the Davar safe (and not just a regular shardblade). Affter the herald-death, Child-Shallan saw a glowing soul be placed into the safe. Then Child-Shallan runs to the garden and knows that Testament would be in the garden (and not locked in a safe). Child Shallan cannot both believe her spren is locked away and that her spren is not locked away. It is only Adult Shallan that thinks that the blade was in the safe. But at the same time Adult Shallan believes she can summon a blade in TWoK, so Adult Shallan does not truly believe her blade is locked away in the safe. We then have Pattern, who may not fully understand what happened with Chanarach, convinces her that she must be misremembering the glowing-soul part. Shallan overtime begins to doubt if her memories of the glowing soul were real, and who can blame her? But childhood Shallan is not wrong about the glowing soul. Childhood Shallan has no reason to confuse a shardblade with the glowing soul of her mother. Why would a child see a weapon and think "yup, that is a glowing soul". If Shallan killed a herald, we really should consider that the glowing light truly was something invested and not the Testament-blade. Something was put into that safe that could not be a regular old shardblade. It was something that glowed somewhat like a dawnshard or the aural-light Dalinar seen when listening to Jasnah recite the Way of Kings at Gavilar's funeral. What was that "soul" Shallan remembers being placed into the safe? If Shallan in fact killed a herald, then the light is almost certainly something real. Shallan, and likely Lin, were able to see the thing through the safe. Shallan is blinded when even walking by the door. That is weird. That is heavy levels of connection weird. Many had dismissed this as "she is just crazy", but I don't think Shallan was that crazy as a child. That is one MASSIVE psychosomatic response. If Chana was just a woman, that might be more believable. But if Chana is a herald, then bright glowy light hidden in a safe becomes something we need to treat as textually important. I have had some time to mull over what was in the safe, and I have four ideas: 1) A Soul Is it possible Lin knew Chana was a herald and somehow locked her Soul into an aluminum safe? Do we ever hear when the safe was opened? I wonder if Chana was locked in there for a time and then was released at some point (maybe when the Davars fled the estate or some earlier time I am forgetting?). It is also possible the soul slowly leaked out just like with Jezrian. I do prefer the idea that the safe had been prepared for a purpose though. Lin seemed to act with quick reflexes to lock the item away in the safe. If the safe did somehow slow the return, then this may explain why Chana lasted 5 years before the desolation. 2) Ba Ado Mishram Another idea is that Ba Ado Mishram was hidden inside Chana. This would mean that Chana had an unmade gemstone inside of her, and that the dark influence inside the Davar estate was that influence leaking out into the household. No one would ever think to look inside a herald for the gem, so that is the best place to hide it. Lin would have known this, and he held on as long as possible as the influence poisoned him. I think Wit provides some evidence for this. Wit knows there is a Dark Force influencing Shallan. Maybe Wit is one of the people who knew where Ba Ado Mishrim was hidden and was therefor able to provide support to Shallan to fight back that influence, or maybe he could see the tendrils of influence around Shallan. 3) An Honourblade It could be Chana's herald blade as well, if it was actually a blade. Maybe the Herald blade appeared and Lin stuffed it away in the safe so no one would find it. There may have been a coverup here. The Stormfather/faker says "they cannot know" after a herald dies, so we know an effort is made to hide what has happened. We know Ishar was with the Shin for a while before Tukar, so maybe the fact a blade vanished was hushed-up by him or someone amongst the Shin. We have contextual evidence that at least someone didn't want anyone to know Chana had died, so a coverup is certain to have happened at least by one entity. 4) A Gemheart Another idea that occurred to me was maybe Heralds have gemhearts that get left behind? We don't know how heralds are brought back, but storing a soul in a gem might make sense. That is how fused do it, so gems might be used here as well. Bonus) 1 +2 + 4 They locked Ba Ado Mishram in Chana's gemheart. We see that Venli can lock a voidspren away in her own gemheart, so the groundwork for this occurring may have already been forshadowed in the text. -- Those are the four ideas I have had for what is in the safe. It could be something else, but I am now 120% convinced the glowing light placed in the safe is something important. If it turns out I am right about Chana being Chana Davar, then my supposition about the Glowing Soul actually being real is something I feel we cant dismiss merely as "Shallan be trippin". After RoW, I think we should be very interested in unexplained lights.

Regarding Shallan’s mom probably being the herald that died, has anyone thought about what’s going to go down when they meet? Because you know it’s going to happen. And I doubt that her time on Braize will have… improved… their relationship.

Perhaps a magical connection of souls to a Bondsmith herald might have some nifty effects? I think we need to be a little more open-minded here about what a God-Herald famous for being crafty might be capable of. If the Stormfather acts differently, talks differently, has different motivations, is shown to have a different human aspect, and is even described as being weirdly inconsistent by Gavilar, the most likely explanation is that this is a different entity. Every aspect of this StormFaker is different. What is that shiny spren light? Even if it is regualr stormfather, why is it not there sometimes? That is a clear difference from Dalinar's version. Why did we never hear anything like "son of honour" nor any "rumbling" etc etc. None of the Storm-ism ever occurred. And he lied! A lot! Syl HATES lies, and she is the ancient daughter. Lying is not of Honour, and this Stormfather is very into lying. In my opinion, it is much more work to explain a theory where these are the same two Stormfathers. There are just way way too many red flags here for it not to be something the reader is supposed to pick up.

SPOILERS AND ADDED INFORMATION: I had posted other bits of this else where in 2020 before the "Taln never broke" WOB, but consolidated all the ideas here in this post This theory and post came out before Rhythm of War, but updates have been made to include information from ROW SA5 Prologue: This is not discussed to avoid spoilers, but SA5 Prologue has some interesting information --- Weird Questions: 1) TALN BREAKING SEEMS ODD What broke Taln? He is crazy and insensate for 4000 years and then one day he says "No thank you". What could have broke Taln? And, in terms of timelines, Taln returned before the Everstorm crossed into the physical realm, so it can't be that the Everstorm freed Taln. Yes the Everstorm was in the Cognitive, but all the doom and gloom seemed to be about the Everstorm being pulled in the Physical Realm by Eshoni and her team. Since Taln returns at the end of The Way of Kings, then Taln must return in a way that is not related to Eshoni. And as I mentioned before, I don't think it makes sense that Odium suddenly found a way to break Taln after 4000 years of trying. Edit: we later got a WOB that Taln did not break 2) DAVAR FAMILY CONNECTIONS Why was the Davar family so connected to secret societies despite being a Vaden house of little note? They have connections to the Ghostbloods and the Ghostbloods have handed them a confirmed soulcaster AND possibly a Seon box. Why? And it seems Skybreakers may have been visiting as well for "reasons". As well, the Skybreakers are breaking paterns when it comes to the Davars. As far as we know, Shallan's older brother is the only Skybreaker to be using a dead blade. Is this special treatment for a member of the Davar family? And finally, Mraize seems to know the Davar family well enough to recognize the name immediately. The Davars would need to be pretty active for that name recognition to be so apparent. 3) CHILD SHALLAN AND HER IMPORTANCE Why did the cryptic go to Shallan as a child? Lift was chosen due to her strange connection to Cultivation, but why Shallan? And why twice? And what were Shallan's parents fighting about? Shallan remembers her parents having huge fights over Shallan's future starting from a very young age. What was that about? Connected to that, why is an dark influence attacking the Davar family? Why is Heleran given a shardblade and brought into the skybreakers? No other Skybreaker acolyte was given a dead-blade and sent to war (that we know of), so why is Helaran so non-standard? Shallan's parents also fight A LOT about Shallan's future. This seems to be a hint that Chanarach had a major plan for Shallan. 4) MAMA DAVAR IN THE KNOW Why was Shallan's mother so quick to try and kill "one of them". How does she know "them" so clearly? Why would she have such a quick and radical reaction? 5) MORE SECRETS What is Shallan's last secret. There is still something horrible in Shallan's past, and this has something to do with a Seon box and whatever Radiant was created to protect Shallan from. What is worse than killing testament? We also have strange internal thoughts from Shallan from WOR in Chapter 10: "The world ended; and Shallan was to blame". This thought has never been explained. What did Shallan do to end the world? "The world ended, and Shallan was to blame.- Words of Radiance, Chapter 10. Mentioned by @honorblades Another strange but overlooked instance occurs in TWoK when Shallan almost summons her Shardblade: If this is indeed Patters/Testement, then why would that Spren ask "What are you?" Testament should full-well know "what" Shallan is in terms of her being a human or a semi-radiant or anything like that. If this voice is Testament, then asking "What are you?" is very odd in my opinion. Shallan answers "I am terrified", but to me that always seemed ... not what the voice was asking Shallan. I always felt there was more to this that simply speaking truths. 6) THE FAMILY'S SAFE AND THE GLOWING LIGHTS ARE IMPORTANT (main data point for me creating this theory) People are very quick to discount Shallan's recollection of Lin Davar placing a glowing soul into a safe. I have always been very confused as to why Shallan is taken as "lying" to herself in this scene. Shallan has no reason to lie about the item being her mother's soul instead of a Shardblade. Lin Davar acted extremely quickly in that situation and made sure to place the item in that safe before dealing with any other issues. That to me is extremely telling. Why would Lin think the Shadblade wouldn't disappear eventually whenever Shallan dismissed it? Why would Lin think the Shardblade would stay in a safe if he managed to place it there quickly? Why would Lin so quickly run to place the item in the safe in the first place? Why is there an unused safe in that room? And then why do Shallan and Lin seem to continually see light coming from that safe for years and years? None of that vibes with "it is just a blade and Shallan is lying to herself" in any way. I just don't get it. Shallan having a Shardblade is not in anyway covered up by this lie, nor is the lie that Shallan killed her spren hidden by this lie either? There is no mental cover-up being done by Shallan making up a lie here. It seems everyone else dismisses Shallan, including Pattern, in favour of "Lynn put a sword in there". 7) EDIT FOR ROW: Then in ROW we get the timeline, and this does not hold up to scrutiny either. Shallan says her father put the item into the safe. WoR Shallan thinks that was a soul, but Pattern convinces her she is misremembering and that the item was a dead spren-blade. But that can't be a dead spren blade because Shallan has not unbonded Testament yet. Shallan does not think that a spren is trapped in that safe and we know this because Shallan then leaves to go speak with her spren in the garden AFTER the item is placed in the safe. Shallan acts immediately as a child in a way that doesn't even consider that her "blade" is in that safe. It just doesn't make sense to think a blade was placed into that safe based on the reactions of the two witnesses involved (which we learn Pattern is not one of) We take it from Pattern that Shallan is wrong here in her memory. However, In ROW we learn that Pattern is NOT an eyewitness to what went down in that room. Pattern sure has a lot of opinions about what Shallan saw, but Pattern was not actually there in the room and cannot actually know what Shallan saw go into the safe. Pattern assumed Shallan is lying to herself as Pattern sees many other lies around that event. But Pattern has no knowledge about who Mother-Davar was, what the safe was for, or why Skybreaker/Ghostbloods may have been in the home. Pattern is not a credible source of information on the events of that day. Shallan is the only living witness, and the actions of her father are consistent with the understanding Shallan had as a child. Shallan too noticed her father staring at the direction of the safe and the light. Only later in life is Shallan told again and again that her memory of those events are wrong by people who were not there. Both Lin and Shallan believe something is in the safe, and a sword does not match the other data points we have. There is "light" in that safe, and it is leaking out over time. And where di the blood come from? A Shardblade should not have done that. The blood has to be some other injury? The box is something. The light was something. Pattern is making assumptions and is wrong about this history with the safe. And why does Shallan see a glowing light coming from the box? Is it a soul like she believes? We learn in RoW that no herald soul can be trapped completely, and that the light of a herald will slowly leak out (is that what Shallan was seeing her whole childhood come out of the safe?). Is it her mother's soul escaping slowly to Braize? Or maybe could it be a perfect gem with Mishram inside? Who knows? But it is something. We have seen other glowing lights (Dawnshard and Dalinar hearing TwoK), so is she just mad, or did she really see something? Whatever it is, it does not make sense that Shallan thinks Testament is trapped in the safe if Shallan went and yelled at Testament after her mother was killed. Something was put into that safe, and to me the most likely answer is "her mother's soul". And firhermore, there is no reason to believe that Lin Davar would think a safe would ever prevent a Shardblade from reappearing in Shallan's hands. 8) HOID and MIDDLEFEST Hoid is downright shocked to see child-Shallan at the Middlefest celebration. Hoid sees something, but that something is unclear. When we originally read WOR, we assume HOpid is shocked to see a Radiant Child or perhaps a bonded spren. However, Shallan does not have a regular active sprenbond at the time of Middlefest, so Hoid did not see Testament or an active radiant bond There are a few things Hoid may have seen: a. Hoid saw Odium's touch on her family b. a dead-blade living-radiant connection line was still active c. the Cryptic team that watched Shallan. d. Shallan is so obviously a part of Chanarach that Hoid was gobsmacked by the resemblance. e. Shallan is noticeably different than other Rosharans due to her strange parentage. But whatever Hoid saw, it was not an active Spren Bond since we know Testament is a deadeye at that point in the story. ---- It All Put Together - A Timeline 1) JAH KAVED Chararach settled in the Davar estate in rural Jah Kaved. Chanarach is involved in several of the secret societies of Roshar just like most of the other heralds we have seen. Chanarach learns of the theory that a return of surgebinders will bring about a desolation. Chararach is completely terrified of returning to Braize and supports the culling of nascent surgebinding. Chanarach is involved in research and is a part of the search to create a method that prevents a herald from returning to Braize upon death. Kalak is also involved. 2) COMMUNICATION NETWORKS Chanarach commands a fair bit of influence and even has a Seon to communicate off world. It is unclear who knows who Chanarach is, but as she did settle in a rural area it is likely Chana's identity is not common knowledge even within secret societies (similar to Restares and Amaram). Chana exerts some form of influence and stays in-the-know with investiture theory and is able to contact others on Roshar or off-world. 3) CREATING THE SAFE Chana tries to devise a way to never return to Braize. She creates a special kind of safe that her soul could be placed in to. She thinks it will entirely prevent a return or will greatly delay her return to Braize. Chana has no way to test this as there are no herald-souls or returned-souls to experiment with. Possibly, the safe is akin to the Seon box in design or the safe may even actually be the Seon Box Shallan remembers playing with as a child? At some point, Chana tells Lin Davar what to do in case she is ever killed (place her soul into the box). In ROW we learn Kelek has some knowledge on this herald soul-leakage issue, so perhaps he was also involved in the Soul Box experiments in some way. 4) SHALLAN IS BORN Chanarach eventually has a daughter and names that daughter after her friend Shalash (Shallan says she was named after Shalash). Shallan may not be a "typical" offspring. She seems to be different from her brothers in some meaningful way. Perhaps Shallanis a cutting of Chararach or maybe Shallan conceived through some form or parthenogenetic process. Perhaps Shallan was created using breaths, as Tyn notes that Shallan seems to see colours better than most other people. EDIT: In a later WOB we learned that that non-returned Cognitive Shadows have had children Edit: In a later WOB we learned that Heralds can have children but it is complicated and effortful to do. Chana has special plans for Shallan. We know from WoR that Shallan's parents fought A LOT about Shallan's future. This implies to me that Shallan is somehow more intentionally convieved than her male siblings, and that Chana had something planned for Shallan that Lynn Davar had moral misgivings about. We are not sure what this is, but I think a lot of us will assume it has something to do with the Oathapact and/or returning to Braize. 5) SHALLAN IS DETECTED BY SPREN The Cryptics find out that one of the heralds has children or they discover a weird child who stands-out and is similar to the child of a Returned. The Cryptics send a delegation to investigate (WOB confirms heralds can have children though maybe it is difficult). At the same time, an unmade is drawn to the family. Testament begins to bond Shallan similar to what happened with Lift. Shallan eventually discovers what her mother is by playing with a Seon box at the Davar estate. The unmade's influence increases in an attempt to get the Herald to go insane and potentially get herself killed by Lin Devar or Shallan. 6) SHALLAN IS DETECTED BY SKYBREAKERS Shallan is discovered to be a surge binder by her mother. Her mother, fearing a return to Braize, refers to Shallan as "one of them". Note that Chanarach does not seem surprised that surgebinders are real. Chanarach has an absolute PTSD breakdown and attacks her daughter. Lin, who likely knew, steps in and Shallan is able to kill her mother in self defence. Lin Devar takes something and locks it away in the safe. We are told this is the Shardblade and Shallan's mother's soul. Shallan goes to the garden to scream at Testament and break her bond AFTER Testament is supposedly locked away in the safe. This timeline does not make sense even if we believe Testament could escape the safe. Why does Shallan believe her spren was trapped but also then in the garden? And how is Testament-blade = her mother's soul? There isn't a connection there logically. 7) SHALLAN KILLS A HERALD AND THEN TALKS TO TESTAMENT IN THE GARDEN After Shallan kills her mother, Shallan goes to Testament and breaks her bond. It is possible Testament told her more here as well. Shallan then begins to repress everything since Shallan has, in her mind, done the most evil act in history. "The world ended, and Shallan was to blame.- Words of Radiance, Chapter 10. Mentioned by @honorblades 8) CORRUPTION SETS IN Lin Devar begins to be corrupted even more. Lin also has mental guilt and wrestles with killing his herald-wife to save his daughter. He beings to protect Shallan at all costs for reasons that may be more than just guilt. Then Davar family hell ensues. The ghostbloods continue to cultivate the family. The Ghostbloods may not believe a herald could be killed by Lin or may not know she was a Herald. The Cryptics stay with Shallan as they don't blame her for what happened. They are still curious about what Shallan is and are researching what happens to a bonded-deadeye to its original radiant. The dark influence in the house may be more than an unmade as well. One of Chana's divine attributes is "obedient". I think this is significant. Lin is driven to rage every time one of his children will not obey him, and the word obey is emphasized many times. It may be possible the Lin's rage was a dark consequence of something Chana was doing, the safe's magical effects, or something else. It is also possible that Lin thought his children would inherit the divine attribute, and the fact they dont obey him drives him to rage. 9) BRAIZE AND SOUL LEAKAGE Chanarach returns to Braize. It may have taken some time for her to get to Braize. It seems the soul is leaking out of the safe over time (ROW: as we see with Jezrian in the gem). Or maybe it takes 5 years to find Chana on Braize since arrival was unexpected and because in earlier returns the heralds were able to "hide" for some time. Either way, the other heralds do not know that that has happened as they cannot detect the pain-bond while on Roshar. Edit: Ishar created the oathpact so he may be able to sense changes in it. 10) HOID SEES SHALLAN Shallan, with no bond, goes to Middlefest. Wit's magic or memory allow him to detect that there is something very strange about Shallan. Wit somehow knows what Shallan fights "is not truly natural" and encourages her to make a path for the light. It is unclear what Wit saw, but he knew more than the fact she was a surgebinder (even though she's actually a deadeye-binder at the time). 11) CHANA IS CAPTURED ON BRAIZE Chanarach is eventually found on Braize. For some reason, Chana either breaks to the pain or gives in to some deal Odium offers. It may have taken a while or been immediate. What is strange is that Chana has not been seen returning to Roshar, either Chana took some deal meaning she did not have to return or perhaps she intentionally landed somewhere remote. 12) TALN RETURNS WITHOUT BREAKING THE OATH Taln returns to Roshar completely insane and without breaking. What happens to Chanarach is unknown. All assume Taln broke. 13) SHALLAN BEGINS TO REMEMBER THAT HER MOTHER WAS A HERALD Radiant is created from memories of Shallan's mother. Or potentially, Radiant is somehow part of Chanarach. Radiant dresses in the same blue and red warrior outfit as the Herald Chanarach in artworks. Radiant is Shallan's repressed memories of who her mother was. It is also possible that Radiant is in someway Shallan's mother (connection mumbo jumbo and cognitive shadow stuff along with cultivation weirdness possibilities) Here is a description of Radiant: “She [Radiant] had chosen to wear her vakama; the traditional Vaden’s warrior clothing. It was similar to the Alethi takama but the skirt was pleeted instead of straight. She wore a loose matching coat with a tight vest and shirt beneath. The bright clothing features vibrant blues embroidered over reds with gold woven between and it had trim on the skirt” Here is Chanarach: 14) TESTEMENT MEMORIES Shallan is forced to confront what happened with Testament, and Radiant begins to see that she must help Shallan deal with her final truth. [Option 1] Shallan knows she killed a herald and that she sent her mother to damnation - possibly ending the world and starting the final desolation. [Option 2] Shallan does not know her mother was a herald, but will put that together in regards to the "hole" in her memory"

oh yeah conference..... i went to a ren fair :>

Pretty sure the circumstances are very different there, the least being that my vote was on D3, when it's pretty pathetic if all I can muster up is a poke vote. But the more important thing i that there's nothing particularly wrong with moving a vote from one player to another. But if a player can consistently get you to unvote them by posting fluff, why bother voting at all? I'll also echo Kas in that it's a bit weird this came to your mind when my own memory of that cycle is pretty much non-existent, but since I am definitely a proponent of reading old SE games, I will also choose to ignore that for now.

I could swear I saw a WoB somewhere about different surges having different levels of difficulty affecting investiture, and cohesion/tension being on the lower end, where it was extremely difficult to affect anything invested with it. I haven't been able to find it though. Edit- The coppermind source that @Tamriel Wolfsbaine referenced was that WoB:

Nice. FTFY

I’m back for the time being! I’ve been pretty busy with school.

Totally. That really sounds like something Gavilar would say as an oath

An odd choice given that both are techniques available to anyone rather than exclusive powers. I guess the question is what abilities would you try to gain through Hemalurgy.

I think it's important to avoid attributing more positive traits to Honor than are indicated in the text. Honor is the Shard of Oaths, not the Shard of Always Telling the Truth and Being Good To People. I think it's entirely feasible that Tanavast and his adherents can lie and deceive outside the bounds of a strict agreement.

I haven't seen anyone mention it unless I glossed over some comments, but one of the things "Gavilar Prologue Stormfather" said just cannot be reconciled with the Stormfather we know; what he said about Ba-Ado-Mishram. The Stormfather here seems to have a positive opinion of the Radiants who imprisoned her and thinks it was both necessary and right. These are the same Radiants who kickstarted the Recreance which killed so many spren which he considered his children. Not only that, but it deeply wounded The Sibling, and we know he blames humans/Radiants for that when Dalinar inquired about The Sibling and he shut him down with "YOU HAVE HURT THEM ENOUGH." I'm still not entirely convinced this is somehow Ishar, but I can imagine that exact explanation of events coming out of Ishar's mouth.

Personally, I was on the fence at first, but reading this discussion has convinced me that it makes a lot more sense for this to be Ishar than for it be the Stormfather.

Perpendicularities do open there sometimes. They don't seem to turn into CS when they die though(or if they do something happens to prevent them sticking around). Perhaps the sun is so invested that it kind of burns them away?

A lot of people don't like Jasnah because she just seems to perfect. And I think that’s intentional by Brandon. Up until now she is dealing pretty well with all that happens in the books compared to all the other main characters. I expect her book or the SA in general to push her to her limits more than anyone else. Something is going to break through the phasade of perfect composure and capability. I can totally see her kind of going down a similar dark path as Taravangian. Or at least being tempted to. Since he is Odium now he might know how to pull the strings on someone who thinks in similar ruthless ways as he does. She’s going to have a major breakdown. The groundwork and foreshadowing is there. The paranoia you mentioned. Her feelings of betrayal/trust issues relating to her childhood illness. Her issues with her father whom (according to Navanis flashback) she loved and respected deeply but who didn’t seem to see her in quite the same way. ( That might support your Hypothesis, since she might want to prove herself to him.) But I can't really get with the idea that she was a traitor all along. While it would definitely be a good twist it doesn’t really fit the story in my opinion. Maybe I’m biased because she is one of my favorite characters. What I like about her is that she is a good person while not necessarily being likable. She genuinely tries to be a good person just like the others. It’s just that her flaws are different ones. If she’d been a traitor all along It would take away a lot of the meaning of what we’ve seen so far. And the storyarc of “I betrayed my people and now I’ll have to make up for it” is already filled by Venli.

ok but hear me out why do i not see enough people talking about that bit at the beginning where kaladin breaks and how he aknowleges that he shouldnt be alone and adolin drags him out to dinner?? its so realistic and the way it represents ppl with mental health problems accuratley (and doesnt just say hes sad and cries) is just so amazing. It even adresses the people who have mental health problems, the people who say to just be happy and the people who are cool with just being there for you even if they dont know exactly what the mentally ill people need. also the conversation between veil and adolin and kal just makes me so happy and i go back and read it all the time lol not sure if that is an unpopular opinion but it definently doesnt get talked about enough

Not on this Shard she doesn't.

This theory is based off of the fact that Rithmatic lines only work if you believe they will work and know what they do at the same time. This theory's main point is that everyone is a Rithmatist, but most don't believe they are (or could be), so they cannot use the powers. This explains why Melody's entire huge family is Rithmatists, as her parents married as Rithmatists, so her siblings, as a part of an all-Rithmatist family, thought that they would undoubtably become one as well. For each child, the amount of faith needed got smaller. Joel is a Rithmatist if this theory is to be believed. When he draws the chalk line during the Inception, it is stated that "he knew what would happen. His hand passed over the line." His hand passed over because he didn't believe. The Shadowblazes serve as a test of faith. They probably flee from every person who becomes Incepted, just to test whether the person will believe even after the Shadowblaze departs them. The Forgotten do not possess Rithmatic powers; they simply allow their possessees to know that they are, indeed, Rithmatists. This is why Harding could make chalk lines. _______________________________________________________________________________________ If you think this theory is plausible, give it a comment and perhaps an upvote, and I will send you a cookie via forum.

I have a WOB that supports this... kind of. Wetlander Speaking of the other Prologues… I have a looney theory that the assassin Liss is actually the Herald Chana in disguise. Peter Ahlstrom Chanaranach has definitely been seen onscreen by at least one character at least one time in the first two books. Miscellaneous 2017 (June 1, 2017) We have seen Shallan's mother onscreen in one of her flashbacks...

I don't know the proper term for it, but bridge!Kaladin is definitely discriminstory against people he considers "high class" or "privileged", something borne out of his trauma. This attitude disappears gradually and fast, but it was there and I'd say it's one of his key development points with Syl. Where I do think Kaladin, and a lot of others, were truly racist was with the parshmen. Even in book 2, when Shen asks him about his freedom he thinks he has enough problems to have to worry about what people will say if a parshmen gets too much freedom. I can't quote from the book but I believe it was something like that. Of course he does give Rlain a spear and treats him as an equal and I think that he's learnt that his "acceptance" of parsh slavery wasn't ok. I think he pitied them back in book 1 too and compared his situation with theirs too, I think that when he was feeling sorry for himself he thought that they had it much worse or something along those lines. His attitude definitely wasn't the worst and he was on the right direction, but there was still the underlying thought that the parshmen weren't at the same level as humans. Like with the other example he grows out of this pretty fast in my opinion.

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