Eki

This is actually something that can happen in our world too. It could still be more common on Roshar, but I'm not so sure.

Closer to 3600-3700 years after the WoK prologue, since Rosharan years are slightly longer than Scadrian years (which seem to be around Cosmere standard years). Since it's so long ago, that doesn't really matter though.

No, those two are the same.

I'd go for 3, but I agree there are some weird things we don't know yet. Radiants are chosen by spren. We don't know how they decide who to go for, but it seems to be different for different orders. People who have a cracked soul have the potential to become a Radiant. A cracked soul can be the result of emotional or physical trauma. Ultimately, it is the spren who decide if they will stay with the person, strengthening the bond between them. But it's also up to the Knight themselves to keep the oaths they've taken. So from what we can tell, the spren know that a Desolation is coming, and are searching out humans to bond. Basically in self defense. probably. Previously, they (at least most of them) had decided not to bond with humans anymore, because of the Recreance. Of course, we don't yet know why the Recreance happened in the first place...

It is assumed (at least by a lot of people), that Sazed meant two new base metals (and one new alloy for each of them). Those four existed before (and I think Mistings of those metals were born back then as well, though I'm not sure if we have proof of that), but they were so rare, and their existence so suppressed by the Lord Ruler, that no one knew about them. Just like aluminium, duralumin and electrum. And yes, atium was never supposed to be a normal part of the Allomantic table (nor was malatium), which is why gold and atium seemed so out of place. Atium is, as you say, Ruin's god metal. Atium was only produced by the Pits of Hathsin, which Kelsier destroyed in the first book. Most of the remaining atium in the world was burned during the final confrontation of Hero of Ages. As a side note, the bead that Elend ate at the end of WoA is Preservation's god metal - it is called lerasium, and it is very interesting. It's basically a solid version of the mists, or of the liquid that was in the Well. We don't know if atium is being produced again in the current era, but we do know that Marsh has some, which he took from a kandra in HoA. Compounding that is what he's been using to stay alive for so long. (Though some have theorized that Sazed is also giving him atium, if his original stash has run out). So that's why it's not in any of the current tables - most people don't know about it, and it isn't available. Even if it was available, we don't know if atium Mistings even exist anymore. I think they do, but that they'll just never find out. Others think Sazed changed Allomancy to remove them.

Rasarr isn't saying Dalinar made the marks, but that Renarin used Dalinar's knife.

There were older, more expensive bauxite refining processes too, so that doesn't necessarily mean anything. VenDell only describes the process as easy compared to the way aluminium was gathered before the Final Ascension.

Aluminium was rare for a long time in our world too, because it's hard to extract from bauxite ore. That is, until a certain process was invented, which made it much, much cheaper. I don't think we know if that process has been invented on Scadrial yet. So aluminium could become much cheaper regardless. Still, good point!

This is the most common theory, yes. Although I think some have theorized that they could be a mix of different civilizations, rather than only from Scadrial.

Szeth's response at the end of WoR doesn't match either of the two reactions we've seen Nightblood induce in people. He didn't feel nauseous, but he didn't feel compelled to possess it either. That could just be because he was in shock after having died and stuff, or it could be because Nightblood had already started bonding with him before he even woke up. Iirc, that stops both effects. (We know for sure it stops the nausea, because of events in Warbreaker.)

The force opposing Adonalsium is very likely to just be the group who decided to Shatter it. The way the question in that WoB was worded gave Brandon a lot of wiggle room. There is a second WoB where Brandon clarifies that "force" could mean many different things.

Ah, I didn't realize they had already begun floating at that point... I guess my idea would still work, but it's less likely.

Assuming Lashing another object takes as much stormlight as Lashing yourself, it would use just as much as if Szeth had used the stormlight himself, in total. So no difference there, compared to the theory that Szeth could Lash himself. It would require some trust, yes, but if those Skybreakers really wanted Szeth dead, they could have killed him pretty much whenever, by Lashing him into the sky against his will. That would, however, clearly be illegal, so the Skybreakers wouldn't do it. But it's also likely, as Yata says, that they just don't know Szeth doesn't have a spren (except for Nightblood).

As long as the Skybreaker never let Szeth go, but kept a hold of him all the way, I don't think it would be that dangerous.

I think it's more likely that one of the two Skybreakers would Lash Szeth to make him fall with them.

Do we know that a whole splinter's worth of Investiture is necessary? Endowment might give much more than she has to, perhaps to allow for many of the other powers a Returned gets access to (such as agelessness, intuitive Awakening, foretelling, whatever the healing they can do actually is...). Also, what is the difference between healing someone just after they died (like Wax, Szeth, and maybe Gawx (though he was probably still a little bit alive)), and reinserting a Cognitive Shadow into their old body? Shouldn't those two things kind of be the same? I was thinking it might depend on if the brain still works (I think the old version of Szeth's resurrection in WoR mentions the brain), but we have stories of TLR being decapitated or burned, and still resurrecting. Maybe the Cognitive Shadow continues to have a connection to the body a bit after it dies, and if that connection is severed (which might happen before the Shadow moves on to the Beyond), it takes more effort to put the Cognitive part back into the body...

Initially I was thinking this too, but maybe his new connection to the Physical Realm (however it works) really would allow him to leave. I agree that he could have stayed willingly though.

Szeth knows Alethi, but he must know other languages too. I don't really think we know which language he was speaking at that point, except that Lift understood it.

There is a Wheel of Time subforum, that's probably a better place for this topic. I definitely would recommend reading them, yeah. The magic system is very well developed. You can't really tell that from just the first book, because there are so few PoV magic users. (Also for other reasons, but those may count as spoilers...) There will be many more in later books. I really can't agree that the characters are interchangeable though... None of the books are skippable (except New Spring, the prequel novella (it's pretty good though, so I wouldn't skip it regardless)). The books do get kind of slow in the later middle (many people would say the low point of the series is book 10), but then they pick up again. I can't say if you should have higher hopes or not, that depends on what kind of books you usually enjoy. But I can say that all of the things you mentioned are developed much more later on, from the characters themselves, to the magic system, and the world as a whole. Out of curiosity, which things about the world seemed counter intuitive?

That only says the recipient is a dragon from an unpublished book, not that it is Frost. Like I said, it's very, very likely to be Frost, but I haven't seen any confirmation.

The book "Let the Right One In" (which I think has an American movie adaption called "Let Me In" or something) has kinda interesting vampires. It is a fairly disturbing book, to be honest. Good if you like horror, I guess. Can't vouch for any translation though, I only read the original.

"I am born! Hello! Many things happen. The end!" - The Awakened Kingdom, by N. K. Jemisin

From what I remember of that conversation, it seemed like Wyndle had no idea Ym had died. Also, I think Ym died well after Wyndle started bonding to Lift. Not sure about that, but WoK and WoR take place over a fairly short time span.

Has that been confirmed? It's very, very likely, but I can't remember if it has been stated outright. Anyway, from what I can remember of that letter, the writer seems to write as if they themselves weren't a shard.

"interfere" doesn't necessarily mean that it's impossible. It might just be like pushing on filled metalminds, or maybe some other kind of effect.