AvatarofOdium

And here I was dreading the fact that there is no shardcast vid this week! Can't wait!!

Well I think settling BAM will either directly or indirectly lead to the fix to the deadeye issue retroactively. So these might be part of a single event rather than two in order and that can help conserve time and preserve the narrative. This, this is actually a really good point and brings me back to a point I touched upon in my original post, the fact that there is a presumed announced amount of time book should/will cover is hanging me up, and it probably shouldn't. The explicit timeline of the narrative while I am reading is often obscure to me and besides the point, so it is good to take a step back and understand that other books take up a time that relatively isn't THAT much greater in time (and focused more on character development). So not only could book 5 very well be almost the entire 10 days, but it shouldn't even feel rushed, or as rushed as I am making it in my head.

Well yeah he's granted access to surges with Jezrians honorblade whereas poor old Gav just had shards. I'd like to know more information about what a 5th ideal radiant is granted access to or what discerns them from the lower ranks. I don't hate this, I like the idea of degradation over time, however I could also see how with it being metal in the physical realm the "level" of investiture not changing. But if this is the case it would make sense how they would make the heralds powerful enough to lead the radiants outside of just knowledge and experience.

What if you used some hemalurgy to nab abilities of the fused for example? And how exactly does yelig-nar have this access? Can that be recreated somehow by a bondsmith or something?

Between an individual that holds an honorblade (and presumably knows how to use its power to its fullest extent) and a Radiant of the 5th ideal, who has more power? Or are they roughly equivalent in what they could do? We know the Nahel Bond is a recreation of what the honorblades could do, but we also see an individual that has elected to both hold the honorblade and join their own order and be of the 5th ideal. Is this for compounding power? Understanding? Or did they realize one was stronger than the other? I was just pondering if I were a worldhopper going to Roshar, would it be better in terms of raw power to attempt to bond a spren, or nab an honorblade? Also can a single person "wield" more than one honorblade? i.e. get access to all the surges??? If so that seems the obvious choice as multiple bonds to different spren doesn't seem as likely.

1) While travel sure does seem easy for both of these two, the nature of their visit, to me feels WAY heavier than what could be done in 10 days. 2) These two don't have any inherant fast travel but sure could use some, but once again finding BAM seems like a task that should take longer than 10 days seeing as they've had a year to do it? 3) Definitely hoping for more Dalinar this book, also as much bondsmith mumbo jumbo with Navani and him. Do we have any indication what he should even be doing in this next book? We know he plans to opt as his own champ, for some reason I don't think that'll happen, but is he just going to end up making plans in the tower for the contest? That is the only thing I could see taking 10 days . 4) I would not hate padding the book with Odium in the Spiritual realm at all, certainly a way Brandon could get the contest in part 5. I too hope for no large timeskip in this book and that it is reserved for the switch to the back half. But I sort of also do not want a book that is almost entirely spanning 10 days. I am almost hoping the contest event happens in part 1 or 2 and we just look at the fallout or additional conflict(s) for the rest of the book. Stormlight has a decent amount a webs weaved that another part of the story could come to the forefront after contest events. I would say though that if it does get resolved early it'll probably go well for Odium as I do not think he is going away soon.

After watching the shardcast video that was uploaded today, a point was brought up about a timejump happening IN book 5. Outside of any WOBs I am unaware of this is pure speculation, but what do we think about this? While we have a 10-day deadline for the contest of champions, but we obviously we have boatload of content needing to be shoved in such a small space, and while it is surely possible the entire book will span these 10 days, it's equally possible to go beyond this time, which could result in some Catacendre level event that subsequently results in a time-skip. Thematically speaking, I don't think a large portion of the book would follow this time-skip, perhaps part 5 at most, although his however would also mean that the entire book will almost entirely be the 10 day countdown. So then how much of the book is the actual 10 days? Are we going to see chapters of a section of the book dedicated to bridging the timeline between the front and back halves? The timing of everything has me really intrigued... I am feeling like the "10 days" is something myself and others are sure to be hung up on and may not end up being as big of a deal as presented or I am making it out to be.

aluminum hat eh? sounds like good protection against emotional allomancy

I feel like this is Endowments position at the time of the letters is reactionary and waiting for something else to happen (assuming these are written during the events of Stormlight 1-5) , which would mean Nightblood and his involvement on Roshar isn't the work of Edgli's plans. This is how I take read it at least initially. Once again I assumed that based on Harmony's writings about trying to groom an Avatar and Hoid wondering through His lands, that these are written during the events of Stormlight, but depending on the wishywashy timeline between The Catacendre, Warbreaker events, and the beginning of Stormlight, there could be room for Endowment to maneuver against Odium. That being said I still think she is in a reactionary state waiting to see what Odium does or if he will be contained to Roshar. I can almost see this being solely Cultivation's plan to exploit a tool created with power Endowment bestowed upon the Returned. I think like most people I assumed Cultivation's power to be something akin to progression and regrowth, plant and organic life, nature, all that business. But in the context of say, forming a grand plan that requires massive scale and small "seeds" to sow and reap at opportune times, that is such a unique usage that most of us as readers as well as in world characters overlook I would imagine. However IF Endowment is actively trying to engage the situation, I think using Vivenna, Vasher, and Nightblood would be excellent, need those POV's ASAP.

Wow holy frijole I completely forgot about The Nightwatcher offering NB to Dalinar....... Okay so that might kill my theory, as the connection between Vasher, Nale, and the Sons makes more sense without adding The Nightwatcher or Cultivation in the mix. I wonder if this was part of Cultivation's plans against Rayse... If so, was it a trade? and what would Vasher get in return? Access to lifelight perhaps?

Yeah I definitely don't think he was the most upset to be rid of the sword, other than knowing someone else has him. So my rough timeline for Vasher based on this theory I have would be 1. After returning and becoming cosmere aware he and Shashara are able to world hop, they go to Roshar and learn of spren blades 2. They return to Nalthis and using that knowledge and their own magic system, create NB 3. Many-war -> Post-warbreaker events happen 4. He and Viv go back to Roshar for investiture reasons and takes NB with him 5. During either his work WITH the Sons of Honor, or work parallel with them he parts ways with NB, who ends up in Nale's hands As I'm typing this I wonder if the fact that Vash as a cognative shadow is able to leave his shardworld makes him a target from these groups, which is the reason for his hiding. 6. He goes into the Ardentia as swordmaster to lay relatively low while still being keyed in with important political figures 7. Events of RoW where yeah apparently he was off on his own doing we can only guess And then in the future according to this my guess would be we have some convergence on these groups (Knights Radiant, Odiums Forces, Ghostbloods, Vash and Viv etc) figuring out this issue with getting investiture off world and resolving the True Desolation. Maybe not so completely with a nice bow on it, but something like that.

So this morning I was thinking about how Nightblood got into the hands of Nale, and based on Vashers placement in book 1 I am wondering if he (depending on how long he's been back on Roshar) was originally working with or around Gavilar and The Sons of Honor? We know he's there because of the (probably moralistic) easy access to investiture, what if he originally had his sights set on getting that investiture off world like the rest, and was betrayed or disillusioned with the goal (we know $$ and power seem to be a big motivator for these groups), and that is how he and Nightblood split and he went into hiding(?) within the Ardentia??

Rhythm made me feel all of the things very strongly, not sure I've loved a book this much since Dune lol! I am actually fortunate enough to own all of these works, even white sands vol 3. I believe the only piece of cosmere I do not own is dawnshard (pretty sure i'll have to buy the e-book from his site).

Glad to be here and posting! I am a Computer Science undergrad and long time (ish) fan of the cosmere and BSando. I first read the Wheel of Time back in 2012 and while I loved the series overall, there was certainly a point around the middle that I certainly glossed over and didn't care as much about. While Jordan's last couple books I really enjoyed, I was quite enamored with Brandon's work on the series. Coincidentally around this time I had remembered a dog-eared copy of Way of Kings at my parents house belonging to my late father, which a co-worker had heavily recommended as Words of Radiance was set to release soon. Needless to say I read the first Stormlight books back to back in a day or two and....I.....was......hooked. I do not think I have found a Cosmere story I haven't loved in some part, I am currently reading Bands of Mourning for the first time, then plan on filling the last few holes I have in the Cosmere (Stormlight novelas, White Sands, Mistborn Secret History). I look forward to finally being able to nerd out about my thoughts and feelings towards the Cosmere!!