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Hmm, good point! I wonder if he's actually Skipped to the same planets multiple times, but different regions with more unique forms of Investiture (eg ChayShan vs the Aons on Sel). Would be hard for him to confirm, since his Linguistic Connection would likely link him only to the region if the planet was sufficiently large.

It's an interesting question for sure, one I think (and hope) we'll see explored as more of the world maps' get revealed. However, regarding Siggy's perspective on deaths in the cosmere, Brandon did have this to say last year: Edit: I also found the WOB where he mentions the rough size of the cosmere. See below:

One thought I had is that the manacle had some kind of Allomantic property - ie, Ironpulling. It was actively pulling Nomad towards the ground, maybe working in conjunction with it's Feruchemical property. How exactly that works, I'm not sure, but it sounds somewhat plausible I feel.

It's tantalizing for sure! Can't wait to see some Awakened Jaegers going toe to toe with these fellas.

Sorry, was referring to your last point; that being similar to the 15th Shard.

I feel like it's more the later. I've always liked the fanon name 'Prudence', though 'Caution', 'Cunning' and 'Guile' are also some good ones. Will be interesting to see whenever they revel themselves.

I'm not a part of the Discord, but I imagine they're waiting for the public release of the book; for those who didn't manage to catch the Kickstarter?

Hmm, what an interesting theory! Still a lot of uncertainty around the Spiritual metals, but this does seem somewhat plausible. Wouldn't be nearly as effective as an Essence Mark, as those require a ton of research, false memories and exact stamps to work. I could see a Twinborn 'locking' a specific goldshadow that you could access again (as goldshadows change depending on your current situation). I don't know about tapping your own 'memory' though; I feel that's more of a copper thing. You could maybe tap that other version of you for perspective on a given situation though. Regarding storing Identity, we really haven't seen what that looks like in terms of the Ferring themselves. I don't think it would give you access to alternative lives though; when you fill an aluminummind, you're blanking your Identity, not replacing it with another. You would be much easier to Forge though.

Most healing in the cosmere is based on restoring you to your spiritual ideal, but that restoration is filtered through the cognitive aspect. Kaladin (until ROW) saw his scars as part of himself, so they weren't healed. I imagine that healing from blindness would be the same - some individuals might heal, some might not; it depends on the individual and how they 'see' that part of themselves. Think of Renarin - his eyes healed to the point he didn't need glasses. I don't believe that's the case - I believe hemalurgy steals the ability to use the power, not the Identity associated with it. So you can now store healing in a metalmind, but you can't use the former Ferring's metalminds (though I could be wrong on this - please correct me if I am fellow Shardgoers) Yes, I believe it could. We know that the gift of a Returned's Divine Breath is some of the strongest in the Cosmere. We also know that it's a 'giving' act (Endowment) and therefore partially based on the Returned's perception of the individual they are healing. The Divine Breath healing also goes deeper than some other magics - we know that Lightsong's sacrifice didn't only heal Susebron's tongue, but also gave him the knowledge of how to speak and how to use it to Awaken things.

Hmm, I feel like it depends a little on what we mean by Invested. Haven't we been told that Radiants aren't specifically that highly Invested in and of themselves, but the higher the Oath the more efficient they are with Stormlight? If so, I don't believe they'd be close to Elantrian level in terms of 'being Invested'; they may be able to hold that much Investiture, but it's not conjoined with their spiritweb in the same way that the Dor and Breaths are. And if we say it's the bond of a single spren specifically that takes you to that Investiture level, then we should also consider those bonded to a seon to be at the same level. I could be wrong about that though; feel free to correct me if that's the case. That being said, I reckon @alder24 's list would be pretty close in a general sense - not considering specific characters and investiture storage.

This is theoretically possible, as the hijo are basically the same as the spren, the seon and the skaze. We have the following WOB's talking about this, with a direct line about needing something pulling them into the Physical Realm. So yeah, I reckon it's possible, given that the hijo already have a method of transitioning into the Physical Realm; through the Yoki-hijo (and as the hion, but I feel that's already a 'creation' so to speak). Would they be the exact same as the Radiant Shardblades? Hard to say. I like your theory though; that they'd be locked in the single form, but manifest as two different weapons or parts of a weapon. A sword and scabbard, or spear and shield etc, seems fairly reasonable to me.

While this is true, it's also a bit subjective on how important it is. It's the same section of text. Yes, I agree with this. Being assertive and being self-disciplined are different skillsets. It takes Yumi much of the book to stand up for herself and her station. However, I feel most of that isn't due to Yumi being a pushover by personality; it's being a slave to society and expectation. The text actually says this on page 73 "Yumi wasn't weak. She wasn't a pushover. Don't assume fragility where you should see patience." She wants to be seen as worthy by the spirits. More than that, she wants to do what she sees is right. It just happens that so much of that has been hamstrung with tradition, expectation and guilt. Yumi, and probably the other yoki-hijo, are choosing to be submissive, because they've been taught that being free and assertive aren't the right thing for a yoki-hijo to do and will offend the spirits. And, if they offend the spirits, they can't do their job and the people suffer and die. To me, it feels more like the 'anger of a gentle man' thing for Yumi. We see what happens when Nikaro pushes her too far and she gets in his face, staring him down. She does have a backbone, she's just afraid that using it will offend the hijo and those that depend on her work. A Machine that literally shredded the souls of those same people would certainly induce some anger, I reckon. Bear in mind, the soul that reformed was her spiritual aspect; the most perfect, ideal version of herself. That aspect of Yumi had that assertive nature within it, even if she didn't know about it (cognitively speaking). Personally, I feel the 'refuse to be controlled' line is also more specifically about the yoki-hijo refusing the Machine's control (rather than control in general), as it went against everything they'd been taught to live for. It killed the people, trapped the spirits and darkened their world. If you were one of the pillars of your entire society, and then something killed most of that society, I feel that even the most passive and submissive person wouldn't take that lying down. Well, I can't stop the book from not sitting right with you. Hopefully I'm able to pass on some understanding from my end

I believe that much of their resistance is due to the nature of their highly Invested spiritwebs. As Design says, Yumi's Elantrian level in terms of Investiture - that's what makes them special. That Investiture is tied to their sense of Identity, which everyone in the cosmere has. It was a combination of both of those things that re-forged their souls. Again, we've seen all of this from Yumi's perspective, so it's hard to say for certain what the lives of the other thirteen looked like. If they were granted more independence, that would certainly help establish a stronger sense of identity. However, in terms of where Yumi specifically got her willpower from...where does willpower come from, empirically speaking? One idea is that willpower comes from, or is linked with, self-control and endurance; denying more pleasurable/ easier paths for ones more painful, but more beneficial. An athlete with a lot of willpower will have a greater sense of discipline in keeping consistent with a workout schedule, even if they don't feel like working out. A firefighter with a lot of willpower will be able to push through the pain to save somebody, or (alternatively) be able to recognize when somebody cannot be saved and not let that break them. From what we know about Yumi, her sense of self-control at enduring through hardship, not breaking through the war, is pretty well developed, and likely comes from a lifetime of serving others. Look at her first scene of stacking stones - she pushes herself to exhaustion, fingers made bloody. Now, you could say she was 'forced' to do that, but the text implies that she kept going not for the onlookers, but to be worthy for the spirits. In fact, despite her work, she still thinks of herself as unworthy, as she secretly yearns for freedom. I feel what she lacks is independence and perspective. All she knows is her own life, devoid of freedom, so once Nikaro comes in and starts questioning things, starts breaking down those social boundaries (even if unintentionally at first), Yumi starts to shift that sense of willpower on to the good things she was missing in her life. And we see, at the end of the book, that sense of willpower was enough for her to pull herself back together, with Nikaro's help. Our world, our rules. As Hoid said, "she was as real as anyone else, because she wanted to be." I could be wrong here, but there is a quote right at the end of the book when she says this : "I'm losing myself, Nikaro", she thought. "No one knows me anymore. I don't even know myself. I'm sorry. It was always a dream." I feel that's more so to do with her accepting that she was dispersing with the shroud, and her willingness to sacrifice herself so that Nikaro and her friends may live. And again, once Nikaro is able to Connect her back and convince her to stay, she chooses to. May not be the quote you mentioned though. Again though, this is just my perspective on things. I'm not trying to invalidate yours, and I apologize if that's what came across.

Ahh, cheers for that! My apologies. Yeah, I do agree - he should definitely have apologized first, so long as the gang gave him the opportunity. It's certainly a character flaw, but I don't feel like it's a narrative one.

Appreciate the honest thoughts mate, thank you for putting them forth. My two cents regarding the yoki-hijo and their willpower being able to separate from the Shroud. 1. We don't know if the other thirteen women where treated inhumanely. We learn that many of them (pre-shroud) were part of a reformist movement that allowed them a lot more freedom and individuality. We also don't know if Liyun is how all the other warden's treated their yoki-hijo, or if she's just the most hardcore version. 2. Separating from the shroud required both strength of Identity and a highly Invested spiritweb. They were Elantrian level Invested, something the machine was only able to shred initially, but that strength of self and amount of Investiture was able to reform itself. In regards to the pain causing strength, I don't feel like that was the message being put forth here. As Dalinar said "Ten spears go to battle, and nine shatter. Did that war forge the one that remained? No, Amaram. All the war did was identify the spear that would not break." The yoki-hijo have a lot of expectation on their shoulders - not because of being guilt tripped (though this is often an accompaniment), but because they provide an essential service. They're like firefighters, or nurses. They carry a ton of weight on their shoulders each day, and likely deal with even more abuse. This isn't good, it isn't fair, but it's reality. Many essential workers face that war each day, and they keep working through it, keep helping people. They have not broken. Why would facing the shroud be any different? Also, I feel it's a little reductive for us, as readers, to say 'How would they truly know what they want? When they have no real experiences?' Who are we to decide that someone raised in such a controlling way 'can't know' what they want out of life? Who are we to say they have no real experiences, when every new day provides nothing but experiences? How can we make such a heavy judgement in good faith? Do we know better then them? I feel that is too personal a question to place a blanket statement over. Regarding what Yumi sees in Nikaro, I feel that's a much more subjective topic. My personal take was less about what she saw of him, but more about what she saw in him. She could see the potential that he smothered with lies, see the truth beyond the hypocrisy. Saw the hero beneath the failure, which he proved multiple times. Heck, he proved it right near the start by going after the stable nightmare. He IS a liar, he IS blaming himself, he DID do the wrong thing with his friends. But this doesn't mean he's a failure or a mistake, or incapable of doing better. This doesn't make him hopeless - he just needs to take hold of his own power. I believe that this is what Yumi saw, and what drew her in. Again, that's a very subjective thing though, and it's going to be different for everyone.