Endnighthazer

One thing I think is important to note is that this book basically confirms Kelsier probably doesn't have a Dawnshard. Nomad mentions that he was 38 when he stopped aging due to the Dawnshard, and he's probably in his twenties in Stormlight so far. This means that he at most had the Dawnshard for ~18 years before it took affect. If Kelsier did get a "Survive" Dawnshard in Secret History - during mistborn era 1 - he would've had it for at least 350~ years by era 2 and it definitely would've affected him, but he doesn't show any signs of a Torment or immortality or anything else when we see him in Lost Metal. Basically, I think that Kelsier's lack of any signs of change due to a Dawnshard means that he most likely doesn't have one, when compared to Zellion's timeline.

What everyone else said, plus also it's possible doing a direct attack like that might open him up to another Shard attacking. Although seeing as we don't know their agreements its hard to know

Thats a good point, but I think that he wants to become Adonalsium in order to bring someone back to life, and might relinquish his power or get rid of it somehow instead of playing the role of a god after he succeeds at that

I've heard a theory that he is collecting the magic systems in order to be connected to each Shard, and then using something (maybe a Dawnshard/Dawnshards) he'll use that to massively boost his connection to them to become some sort of new Adonalsium Don't know how much I agree with it, but I do think connection is important, especially seeing as Hoid can't use the magic systems to fight

Ah ok thanks for clarifying

Wouldn't after Bands be best for these reveals? (sorry if that's what you're saying, I'm not sure I fully understand that part of your response) Why? Because of the Cosmere connections? Oh yeah that's a good point

Yeah, I guess

Are you sure they couldn't just read the mistborn series? I haven't read SH in a while, but do they lose that much if they don't know about some of the Cosmere stuff?

They haven't read anything else in the Cosmere, and I think they'd rather finish Mistborn first... Is your advice after Bands then?

So one of my friends is close to finishing Hero of Ages, and I want to present her with the choice of reading Secret History after Hero, and I want to be able to tell her the reasons for each reading order. So, what are the reasons for reading secret history after Hero or after Bands? After Hero the events are fresher in your mind, and after Bands you don't get spoiled on the reveal at the end, are there any more?

To me, Iyatil's brother (forgot his name lmao) seemed to be one of the more ruthless of the Scadrian Branch, so if Iyatil is running the Rosharan branch with less oversight and she is similarly ruthless I could see that leading to the Rosharan Ghostbloods being more like they are in SA. Also, because they aren't trying to protect Roshar they can do more villainous things e.g. capturing Lift for the Fused. If they were defending Roshar, it'd be like giving a child metalborn to Autonomy in exchange for access to her Perpendicularity but they aren't defending Roshar Sorry if this is a bit rambly