ArchangelCaesar

1. I heard it as lowercase 'c' cosmere, which has been used before as the in-world substitute for "universe" 2. No answer yet. I'm waiting on the Stormlight RPG to come out. that's when we'll get all the answers, I think 3. Lots of walking through portals and then the cognitive realm, although it'd be thematically appropriate for it to be a next level portal that throws them straight through the Spiritual Realm and on to Land 5. Bed ridden: Magical wheelchairs will appear is my joke of a theory 4. We know that the golden Iriali hair breeds true, so I think that mixed race people who identify as Iriali will likely be allowed to come. Identity is likely important here.

I'm on board with the Awakened theory. Additionally, I think they were made by a certain Scholar who is currently MIA: Yesteel From what I read in a bunch of WoBs and the end of WB, Yesteel is thought to be on the world of Nalthis at the end of WB, and that we will see him if we ever get that WB sequel (though this was as of 2011. so who knows if that has changed) Assuming Vasher doesn't gank him in the sequel, Yesteel is still alive and kicking and likely experimenting. If he somehow ran into Autonomy, he could very well have been enlisted by her to create an army of autonomous soldiers using corrupted Breaths (hence the red eyes).

This is a really good theory. If it is probably, we'll definitely see more of this in Elantris 2 or 3, which will be exciting. This could also set the stage for the Ire's operation (Selish Ghostbloods?) which Moonlight conspicuously doesn't mention in TLM. Red is the color of corrupted investiture, so it makes a certain amount of sense that red has become the color of an invading force, essentially. The consistent gold coloring is getting frustrating though. If Brandon comes out and says they're different shades of gold, I'm going to lose it.

It's possible, but I had a theory that the Thrill was actually a corrupted version of the Evil on Threnody. Overall, I think it makes sense, although a recent WoB throws a wrench in this: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/508/#e15875

They could be choosing to work with autonomy for a temporary period to steal the Shard from her. Lesser of 16 11 evils type of decision

going off of your comments about the malleability of a body both Fused and Returned, he doesn't have to have a mistraith body to still look like Kelsier. I think that when a Cognitive Shadow is stapled to a body, the Identity of that shadow changes the body, kinda like a Soulstamp, as the body integrates itself with the spiritweb of the Cognitive Shadow. Thus, Vasher could be pulling some major Identity switcheroos with his Breath (somewhat like Hoid) and convincing his body to look how he wants it to look, similar to how healing works.

So essentially he's becoming the Spirit of Imperialism? I saw another theory floating around that the "clash of cultures" that Brandon has described for Era 4 could easily be an exploration of intergalactic imperialism, and Discord, driven by Preservation (of Scadrial and it's culture) and Ruin (of other people's lives and cultures) could easily be a driver of this. So as you said, a very human Shard

I think I know what you're asking, but I'm not sure it is feasible. I think it is possible to separate the Intent from the Investiture, based on random hints Brandon has thrown out, specifically this WoB, which hints that Vasher can indeed do it. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/379/#e12667 I think it involves completely removing the intent from the investiture, purifying it, so that the intent no longer exists. So imagine if the rubber band in your analogy dissolves once it is not attached to the pencils or pen. I don't think it is feasible to completely remove intent from a Shard, because there is likely some sort of magical filtering process involved, possibly through an individuals soul or Spiritweb. And shoving *massive* amounts of Investiture through anything can't be healthy, especially if it's your Spiritweb. Also, every Shard has (essentially) infinite power/Investiture, as I think we can imply from this WoB https://wob.coppermind.net/events/256/#e8702 Specifically addressing how you worded this: No, I don't think this will be possible because you can't take the entire rubber band away with only one pencil attached. It would be more like taking one pencil out at a time until only one pencil is left. Even then, that one pencil will still represent an infinite amount of Investiture that the pen could or could not be aware of. I think it *could* be possible to trick the finite mind of a Vessel into thinking they're completely cut off from their intent, but I'm more speaking out of my rear end here. If you want more weird Shard stuff that is tangentially related to your question, a WoB that really illustrates the muddiness of these waters is this one: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/315/#e9385

I think there's a possibility that the "new or unexpected" is that Aux picks up the Dawnshard and that is why the Night Brigade is hunting them. They probably think that Sigzil still has it. Then Sigzil picks up a weird bond with Aux, but he is also suffering from the Torment as a result of formerly being a Dawnshard.

I would assume that the Listeners were simply Connected to the world and the spren at that point. The highstorms and spren existed pre-Shattering, so I think the Parshmen just used the Highstorm to transform at that point. Through the desolations, I think Odium warped their Connection so it was only to him (and then later, Bo-Ado-Mishram) and this may have prevented the parshmen from transforming in a highstorm due to a lack of Connection to Honor, (who at this point could've co-opted the highstorms for himself).

they would only consume the breaths if the transformation consumes Investiture. Maybe the reason they singer needs to be closer to the Cognitive and Spiritual is so that they can "edit" their Spiritweb easier.

Also Truthwatcher and Willshaper, since those are the two that have been appealing to me recently. Imagine being able to take the memories of stone and turn them into grand scale illusions.

Not necessarily. that means the story took place thousands of years after the last Desolation, but the timeline of the rise of the Evil is more fuzzy. It is true that it has been a century since mankind abandoned the continent however, so that might throw a wrench in there.

I'm not entirely sure. I think the easiest way we could ascertain some of this is through dating Khriss's notes. Also, do we know that the Thrill was around during the Desolations?

I just posted this to my Youtube channel, but I figured I'd type this up fully here, maybe additionally clarify some of the points TL;DR at the bottom The central question of this theory: Where did the Thrill originally come from, was it truly of Odium in the very beginning? My theory is that Nergaoul was actually a splinter of Ambition to start with and Odium Unmade the Thrill into what it is today on Roshar. The Thrill is characterized as a red mist, so The Threnody system So we know that Odium mortally sliced and diced Ambition while in the Threnody system (and also Mercy was there doing who knows what). Chunks of Ambition rained down, and something arose from the ashes: The Evil. The Evil was described by Nazh as "a creeping darkness, a terrible force that consumed the entirety of the continent, feasting upon the souls of men." Khriss also states that she does "not know how much of this is metaphoric, and how much literal." I think this was mostly metaphorical. Being a Splinter of Ambition, I think the Evil entered the hearts of men and inflamed their ambitious desires to the utmost, similarly to what the Thrill does with battle rage or Ashtermarn with gluttony. This "devoured their souls" by inciting them to pursue their greatest ambitions to the loss of all else. Thus, the continent was consumed by madness and those strangely unaffected fled to the smaller, shade-filled continent. Then, I think Odium came back. He had just dispatched Ambition and was inspecting the scene of the crime just to double check there aren't any powerful splinters that could rise up and gather up Ambition's power again. And on Threnody, he finds a new toy. Odium corrupts the Thrill, through the process of Unmaking and this fundamentally changes the nature of the Thrill into something similar, but different. Now, the main objection that I see to this theory: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/100/#e1672 How does this fit with the theory? Well, primarily, I think this could tell us about the nature of Unmaking. This form of corruption has to fundamentally change the nature of the Splinter such that it is either A: a Splinter of both Shards, or B: A Splinter completely of Odium through a process of substitution, where Odium's investiture replaces Ambition's, but still retaining the vague shape of what the thing is. I think the first is the most likely, but I have been unable to find if this question has been asked before about the nature of Unmaking. TL;DR The Thrill was originally a splinter of Ambition called the Evil, Odium saw a new toy, Unmade it into a Splinter of Odium, and then tossed it onto Roshar for it to go buck wild.

Of course, but she could momentarily hand off the Dawnshard or Connect in someway to the Stormfather because handy dandy Bondsmith powers. The real question is if the Sleepless will allow this to happen I've been leaning this way as a good ending to SA 5 for years. It would be a good but tragic ending would be having ten individuals (ish) sacrifice themselves to be tortured on Braize and then the back half is trying to find an actual better solution. I think there are enough signposts in the story-telling with the way he has been teasing the Oathpact and then now we have Taln and Ash with Jasnah and possibly a briefly sane Ishar possibly appearing in SA 5.

In RoW, we get a more information on the whereabouts of Honorblades from multiple different sources. We get enough random Honorblades that it feels like Brandon is signposting something. What if the Honorblades are keys to making new Heralds? Being that the Honorblades are required in order to connect new Heralds to the Oathpact? Additionally, we have a super simple way to get new Heralds: Rysn as the Change Dawnshard. The Plan is to Change the Oathpact with Rysn (possibly revealing some history of the Dawnshard. To do this, you need the ten Honorblades and the Dawnshard and then Dalinar, as a Bondsmith, could take up the Dawnshard and command the Oathpact to Change the bearers of the Oathpact, who could renew it by going back to Braize. Or there is another person who could possibly pick up the Dawnshard, but that's a Spoiler for SP 4.

A family reunion would be super interesting, especially if Odoum had been courting one of them and brought them to Rall-elorim. Could the Turthwatcher or possibly Elsecaller blade assist with various CR related issues, especially with BAM possibly being there?

Possibly. I think the more likely issue that will arise is that Taravangian will be unable to act against Kharbranth. Or he could still remain unwilling to act against it. Point of weakness/place of sanctuary

From what I know, it usually takes thousands of years for the Shadric intents to start eating away at the vessel. Like there's an influence, but not a heavy one. Even in the end, Rayse was still resisting the influence of Odium in subtle ways (like not taking criticism from the fused). the other thing being: somehow Todium would have to break his pact with himself. As Taravangian ascended to Odium, he noted that he took on all the promises that Odium had made in the past. This means, of course, that the champion duel between Dalinar and Odium is still happening, but also that Odium's deal with Taravangian about protecting Kharbranth is still valid. I like your idea about shuffling of antagonists. I think we probably will see that as well, we just don't have an idea of what that is gonna be.

Its definitely possible, but if it is, there has been none of the foreshadowing I would expect for this event. To me, it would make more sense for her to start delving into worldhopping more and become a liaison with Silverlight and/or the Seventeenth Shardin the back half, if we assume that the back half is gonna be hugely Cosmere connected.

Both of these are further building blocks for the "Ishar is the Susfather" theory. Theoretically Ishar might be able to imitate the Stormfather in the way we see him interacting with Galivar with the Bondsmith Honorblade, since we don't know when he nabbed it from the Shin.

And a lot of the "lies" that Gavilar realizes are things we hear from Gavilar's thoughts, not from the Stormfather's mouth, so the Stormfather probably just *let* him believe a lot of things. Additionally, as I was rereading Oathbringer chapter 38, Dalinar makes a comment about something feeling like "cheating," and the Stormfather's reply was "Cheating? You made no oath." This tells us the Stormfather's orientation towards morality. Some things are more flexible as long as he is still maintaining his oaths. In the prologue, the Stormfather would only be bound by his oath to Honor (or the intent Honor infused him with). The Susfather theory has a bunch of credibility in my mind, and it fits a lot of the things we see in the prologue. However, I think neither of these theories fully explain all the stuff we saw, but I expect a bunch of revisions between now and release day (which is way too friggin far away). Rereading this prologue is gonna be so interesting when he releases the final version. The direction of these rewrites will most likely point to the correct solution.

So, like everyone else, I've been thinking non-stop about the Prologue since I heard it read the first time, like a good Vorin man. The ardent, Sando did a wonderful job. And I have some theories. Part of this is me purposefully trying to go against the grain since the prevailing Susfather Theory is that the Stormfather is not the Stormfather. So, I have an alternate solution: The Stormfather IS the Stormfather in the prologue and he Bonds with another between guiding Gavilar and Dalinar. Firstly: The Stormfather isn't tied to the storm at this point. This isn't something I've seen questioned before, but what if the Stormfather wasn't always Connected to the storm, but rather chose to be in it at certain times. Or just wasn't in it at all. Thus, the Stormfather was in a different form when he approached Gavilar, a form that allowed him greater flexibility. Secondly: The Herald Gavilar was going to replace wasn't Taln, it was Ishar. The Stormfather is trying to forge a new Oathpact, and to do that, he needs to have a powerful Bondsmith. In the Prologue, Gavilar assumes he is going to replace Taln, but that is based off the assumptions that all the other Heraldic buns are getting Braized currently. Thirdly: After the Night of the Prologue, the Stormfather, acting like a teenager that goes back to a toxic relationship because they can "fix them this time," approaches and Bonds Ishar in order to cure his madness (Spoiler, it doesn't, at least not fully). Ishar, being excited with all these returning powers, starts his experiments we see at the end of RoW. Spooky, scary Spren-etons, send shivers down your spine. Fourthly: Chaos. Arguments. Vases get throw at heads. Doors get slammed. The Stormfather breaks the bond (the mechanics are a bit sketch, but at the very least, I don't think Ishar would break it on purpose). In the process of the break, the Stormfather binds himself/is bound to the storm in order to hide himself from Ishar for the time being. Fifthly: at some point in the relationship, the Stormfather mentions the Shin with the Honorblade. After the bad break-up, Ishar needs a rebound, so he goes to the Shin and steals the Bondsmith Honorblade. at this point, I think its possible that Cultivation intervened and tells the Stormfather to bond Dalinar because plans, but I just wanted to theorize about what could be going on here. Would be a nice subplot for Dalinar and the Stormfather to retread as the 10 days go forward in SA 5. I do think that there would be some rewrites to the prologue needed to clarify this and direct the foreshadowing to this particular thing, but that is a given with all the theories about the prologue, I think.

Shallan saw a Ghostblood meeting happening and her mom was planning something absolutely wild, like taking over Jah Keved by force. Mraize may have also scarred her somehow. I think there's more to their story and Mraize has known her since she was a child, although there may be something disproving that somewhere That or she discovered her Mom was a Herald, although with this, I'm not sure how much a young Shallan would understand and also perceive it as something so bad it needs to be repressed. Like if you found out your mom was a mythical figure from your religion, would you be mortified or excited?