SedatedDragon

Calling it now. Stormlight Taravangian's visit to the Nightwatcher will be very vital to Roshar and mankind, but not in the way we all think. Taravangian (and my myself, on my first half-dozen read-throughs) assumed that his brilliance will ultimately save mankind, if it can. We know that Mr T's intelligence and his compassion have an inverse relationship. I think that his intelligence is actually his curse, and his compassion is his boon. I think that eventually, he will have a day like that he had when writing the Diagram, but opposite. Instead of transcended brilliance, it will be a heaviest, most awful mental slowing of all time. And his compassion, by extension, will be so staggeringly powerful that he manages to...save the day? Taravangian becomes Honor's champion? Perhaps that's Cultivation's plan? Make a man so compassionate that he can Ascend, and then his "retardation" will evaporate in the face of Honor's Shardic power. Adolin will be a runaway. Perhaps even a fugitive. His murder of Sadeas is obviously going to be a big deal. Being the most powerful of the highprinces before his death, Sadeas is leaving a lot of angry supporters behind. There will be an investigation. Something Adolin didn't plan for will come back to bite him; some missed detail that implicates him. He will panic and leave the Alethi court behind. From there, perhaps even hunted as a fugitive, he has to blend in with the underground (Vivenna in Warbreaker style), having a great life-changing character arc as he is faced with many things he never had to worry about before (poverty, starvation, social placement), and overcomes them. He finds his Oaths in the process. Kaladin gets a badass moment in Hearthstone He is completely out of Stormlight before he even arrives in his hometown, and Roshar is still in the Weeping, lacking Stormlight. He gets into major trouble, and with the advent on the first highstorm, he bursts alight and puts everyone in their place. End of Book 5, Roshar itself is destroyed in some cataclysm, and Odium is freed to wreak havoc on the rest of the Cosmere. Stormlight 5-10 will take place in many different locations.

Actually, aren't they all confirmed to be a single highstorm? I recall Syl mentioning to Kaladin that the Stormfather "sped the winds" of the highstorm to bring it faster.

It's just Odium's attention being there as Szeth arrives. The spren sense his direct gaze.

I've always had the impression that Cultivation is behind a lot of this. Perhaps even the power of Shardplate. I mean, it even matches perfectly of what I'd imagine her Shardic Intent would be...long term protection and growth. I like to think that Fabrials, representing a fantasy-equivalent of advanced technology, are also brilliantly aligned with ideal, long term progression and creation. I'm not near my books right now so I'm going off memory alone here...but Navani did say that they've proved the gemstones on Shardblades weren't originally part of the weapons, and some writings even mentioned that they'd changed shape to adopt (we know that living ones can). It would paint a suitably poetic picture...Honor arming men and Cultivation protecting them in their fight against Odium. Now, about Cymatics. I think this could be tied with Cultivation's power. How? I've no idea. But I now recall Shallan, as she's struggling to discover instructions for her stolen Soulcaster, coming across an idle comment that "humming, of all things, was said to make the transformation more effective". We've also seen the ardents in book 2 create a stone breakwall, while singing together. The Parshendi sing; they tune in to Rhythms that only they can hear. The major cities (or rather, the stones that protect them) mimic the behavior of sounds through a physical medium. damnation this man. He gives us SO MANY PIECES but still not enough to connect any yet. It's maddeningly genius. I admit I've looked none of this up. It could have been talked about a thousand times over by now. If it has...my bad.

If there's any heavy metal/groove metal fans that read this, my band is about to record a song that will be available as a free download in the not too distant future. It will be called "The Blackthorn", and it's about exactly who you're thinking of.

"Killing" a Shard doesn't erase it though. The Shards are still there. The power is still there; just not the consciousness that directs them. Including Harmony, there's still 15 Shards (as far as we know). As far as this 'wild conjecture' goes, how about this? What if NIGHTBLOOD was the supposed "weapon" built to oppose Adonalsium? Brandon has stated many times that Nightblood is 'significantly more powerful' than an average Shardblade. In fact, it 'eats' Investiture...if I remember correctly. Unless we have proof that Nightblood WAS indeed formed after the Shattering, which now that I think on it...Vasher remembers happening. The forging, not the Shattering. Hmm. I might have just made a wildly inaccurate swing. Sounds far fetched anyway.

I din't know if anyone else really noticed it in the same way I did, and I could be reading WAY too much in to this, but just before Shallan enters Taln's cell, she passes a woman that Pattern claims is "rubbing her own excrement of the wall". More, he immediately mentions patterns, and claimed it "looked interesting". I got suspicious before even seeing that post about all Heralds supposedly being seen already. Is that true? Do we have any WoB on that? (I apologize for not directly quoting WoR. It was on audiobook 2 days ago that I heard it)

But...doesn't Vivenna carry the bloodline of the First Returned? I'd imagine she's got more to her DNA than we currently know, extra heightenings aside.

White Sand is available in rough draft to read, though. I've read the first half or so. I'm pretty sure the sand is Invested; most likely by the sun that it's so close to. Edit: Anyway, I don't specifically remember what gave me this impression, but I discussed it with my buddy who's more Cosmerically aware (is that even a word?) than I am. It sounded pretty good at the time. Interesting thought. The Tears of Edgli are kind of special to the magic system on Nalthis,as is the sand in White Sand. Could be that he's not only collecting trophies, but tiny individual pieces of each Shard's power in some form? Haven't read Shadows but I wonder if he's got a vial of metals anywhere... All just speculation of course.

I'm on my 3rd or 4th overall read through of Warbreaker at the moment, and I found a killer Returned name a couple nights ago but I forgot what it was, and I can't for the life of me find a comprehensive (or even rough) list of them anywhere on the Coppermind. Brandon's got a gift for really awesome names. These are the ones I can remember. Lightsong Blushweaver Peacegiver Mercystar Hopefinder Warbreaker (duh) Calmseer I don't suppose anyone can remember which ones I've missed?