CognitiveShadow

I think a great hybrid shard would be Honor and Mercy. Hold people to their oaths and keep people accountable for the things they do / don't do. But then also be understanding of the circumstances and empathetic enough to let things slide when it is the right thing to do. I'm not sure what to call it though... maybe Wisdom (if that isn't one of the unknown shards already) or Balance? Could do Empathy and Compassion maybe too but they seem heavy on the mercy side maybe. Anyone else have ideas?

Hang on- are you talking about Kelsier bonding a spren.... or are you talking about Kelsier being the 'spren' part of a bond with someone else? Cause it's cool to think about Kelsier bonding a spren like @Rune was describing. But what happens if someone is able to bond Kelsier (given that he is a spren-like being, a cognitive shadow that has been around for ages, becoming more like spren each day...)? I don't know what that looks like or if it's even possible but I like to think that it would be pretty awesome. Maybe an unchained bondsmith like Dalinar could make it happen somehow? Maybe his mistborn abilities show through in that person, and his "survive" mandate / ideal would pass along some abilities that feel a little more in line with 'knights radiant'-type abilities...? To answer your question, though - I think Kelsier bonded Szeth that could be pretty cool. Imagine Szeth trying to get both Nightblood and Kelsier's voices out of his head, telling him to destroy evil and kill the rich people. Adolin would be interesting as well (Adolin would help temper some of Kelsier's more murderous tendencies... but then again Kelsier would likely encourage some of Adolin's murderous tendencies). I would definitely not want it to be Hoid but I think Hoid wouldn't really want that either... Who else would be a terrible option?

You gotta give it a listen- you’ll probably recognize it but either way pay attention to the story. It’s a classic! https://open.spotify.com/track/5IMtdHjJ1OtkxbGe4zfUxQ?si=UaWKGdvnRvORw3zl8-guTA

Ah darn and here I thought I’d had a new idea! Haha thanks for sharing the link- this looks awesome!

Cosmere Wordle #1! If you aren’t familiar with how to play Wordle, Google is a great source with the basic info But basically you just guess a 5 letter word and get info on which letters are right/wrong until you get the right word. But you only get 6 guesses. I’m not sure how we make this work smoothly in this forum - maybe someone can do something to make it a cooler experience? I figure for now you all can try to guess the 5 letter word and I will let you know what is correct / incorrect. Might take us some time but hey we should have a winner by the end of the day haha first person to guess the word of the day wins!! I’ve got the word. Hint- it has something to do with the Cosmere… could be a name of a character, strange made of Brando Sando word, come from a cosmere language… let the games begin!

@Ta'veren Kaladin @Thaidakar the Ghostblood Definitely was thinking about the song, but merged with the typical long walks on the beach phrase- should have gone all in on the song and said getting caught in the rain instead though haha thanks for the welcome!

Yeah that’s a good point, it goes back to what @Weltall said about being able to use the investiture as long as you have all the pieces you need to make it work. A body is needed for allowancy (as a random example). Curious if a body would be necessary to make every form of investiture work though…? Breaths? Stormlight? Aon Dor?…

Thanks everybody!

These are super good points, thanks for sharing.

Really good points! Thanks for sharing that WoB too, definitely helps bring clarity and more informed perspective. Are power systems or abilities only useable in the physical world? I can’t remember if the characters who have gone into the cognitive realm have been able to use their powers or not.. I think no though, right?

Hello all! I made an account a while back but never really got active. With the secret projects and soon-to-be-written next few books coming out not too distantly, thought I’d dig a little deeper and join the community fully. I love all things Cosmere. I started reading about a year ago and burned through it all, so I had to go and read all the Wheel of Time stuff while I’ve been waiting for more Cosmere books to come out. Anyway, stoked to be here, excited for the next books, and looking forward to a whole lot of crack theories! - Nate / CognitiveShadow

Thanks everyone for the great comments! I think I am pretty well aligned with these core arguments that you people made: Super excited for the next few books and secret books coming out! Hopefully we can get some cool glimpses into how Kelsier is interacting with the Cosmere. Thanks again everyone!

This is a question that I have been thinking a lot about lately. Not one that I have really dug super deeply for answers on though, so apologies if there is a wobs on this already or if someone has asked this already! Just assume spoilers for all cosmere below, hope that’s ok:

Great replies and explanations all around, thanks everyone! Definitely clarified some definitions and helped get rid of some of the cobwebs on my Elantris studies! I will be looking closer at the Ire and how they interact with others. I think we’ve cleared up that the Elantrians are not cognitive shadows, not quite anyway.

Thanks for the response! I think I agree with your line of thinking. They would be way too similar to the returned if they were actually cognitive shadows. I was initially wondering because it seemed like when Raoden and others are taken by the Shaod their body is almost stuck in a death/dying phase before coming back full of investiture… but I think I agree that they aren’t actually dying and lingering like the typical cognitive shadow. More similar to a misting/mistborn snapping maybe. Maybe the Elantrians have a ritual process of turning themselves into cognitive shadows when they are ready to move on? I like the idea of how they would have to be accessing or using AonDor when they died to potentially become a cognitive shadow. But, is there any benefit to being a cognitive shadow over an Elantrian, or is that a step down? Anyway, thank you for listening to my Ted talk of rambling thoughts lol