Stigmadiabolicum

It's really surreal that after like a decade of us theorizing about that tiny glimpse of the Sixth sequel, future scadrians and a possible Fused Skybreakers, shard guns..so many times people would be like WTF?? Haha since it was hidden in the arcanum. Sunlit kind of scratched that itch, but holy crap now we're actually getting that sequel. I doubt we'll see much of the other shardworlds since dusk goes into shadesmar though..and somehow also getting Frost/Yolen details, I remember everyone discussing frosts letter to Hoid like 15 years ago, I feel old. seems like it will be a blend of Triss and Sunlit, not just because Xixis is in it. I can't wait, the details about space age cosmere we got in triss/Yumi/sunlit were the best parts. also Sunlit set up why Nazh would become a shade since he's from threnody. Wonder how he died..seems like he's dressed in Era 2 scadrian clothes, scoping out Wax & Wayne with khriss and got taken out? After centuries with silverlight how the hell would he get ganked. Maybe Kel haha. It's just frustrating we won't get books set in this era for real until like 2035, after era 3/Elantris sequels..

Minor nitpick to the earlier posters, Ruin was most definitely already exerting control by WoA..it's the whole reason Marsh is acting so weird and takes Sazed to the Conventical to find the plaque and spark the whole plan with the well for Vin. Marsh didn't have other goals there, he was lying haha. True, we don't know to what extent he was able to control them, but likely also the reason they all left the building and butchered the staff. He was already making his move. We know he was sending out pulses this entire time in secret history, and it wasn't just to nudge vin or a few crazy people. Imprisoned or not, inquisitors were literally walking Ruin conduits. At least like, toggle an objective on and send them in that direction, not quite yet full avatars of his will, besides Marsh.

In BoM Wax says "The Bands are drained, mostly, but we could probably recharge them by compounding" So they were already at like 5%, he mainly used steel and a blend of the other physical traits but never really used soothing or the other emotional ones, or a few F powers. What's weird is they shouldn't be able to "drain", the unkeyed F powers you'd just start a new recharge cycle, store some health/speed/weight, swallow that metalminds and burn it, flare it and so on. They're not single use haha. But in that intense moment they weren't thinking, and the admiral/Kelsier were definitely making a play there. Honestly for years now I've just been itching to finally get the full scoop on the south, I know them, Kel and the tech was basically seeds planted for era 3 but waiting til era 3 sucks haha, I want secret history 2

I didn't mean innate like breath, where they're born with it, I meant as long as they're in Elantrian or using the devices they just have access to that investiture, it isn't running out, it isn't draining like stormlight, or a set mana bar like allomancers. He loves his limitations, hence the reod, id imagine the sequels would incorporate a big cooldown or at least something to prevent them spamming aons nonstop, but the region lock already kind of limits them without the tech. My point was just they don't need to consume a temporary source of investiture, they have a permanent constant link to it, with no shardholder in the way. Breaths are closer to that, since it just drains color and you can just keep recovering the breaths (besides lifeless) but Elantrians are always plugged in to their power source, like returned. Scadrial and Roshar only get to tap into it, without spheres or metals they're uninvested. That's what I meant by innate. But yeah, definitely seems clear skip capacity requires way more than your usual techniques. Wish we knew for sure if that was tied to the dawnshard, since sig was windrunner/skybreaker seems like it had to be. Would explain why he wanted Elantrian powers so badly haha, permanent Dor connection to skip with, and can likely power his mistborn/radiant ability knowing him. He was able to use his breath/allomancy to deduce the missing time from Odium after all haha. But yeah, we need a power scale, give it a few weeks we'll have WoBs of people asking how many breath units the main classes would be at on average

I agree with the breakdown, going by Rysns warning about spren bonds, it's possible he intentionally ended his bond as a windrunner before taking up the dawnshard, but then that doesn't explain why he'd begin a new bond as a skybreaker. Feel like Hoid could have warned him about draining his spren, but I guess he only recently got design, idk. I'm still in the back 3/4, I didn't want to rush it haha, got another year til KoWaT, and (the chasm kata/bridge 4 gave me chills) But I'm loving all the tidbits we get, i think 5% skip capacity is a bad baseline since it's an immense amount required to skip compared to what would be incredibly strong mistborn/awakeners/radiants in era 1/2. It's like you need Elantrian levels of investiture to skip, since dawnshards are the primordial investiture, seems like you get the base abilities of being invested, like early heightenings (with Rysn) and some of the various powers like elsecaller teleporting/bondsmith connection meddling. Now that he's established breath units reeeally want a WoB of him saying the baseline units of a standard radiant/Elantrian/awakener, and what level someone like Rashek and Susebron were at, since they're splinters/close enough in the latters case.. Also as far as the timeline, using real world tech progression towards spaceflight to judge length of time isn't a good example, look at Yumi, they're still somewhat limited tech wise but purely having the hion they can travel to a neighboring planet, and roshar/scadrial airship tech is already 75% of the way there, a few more developments in fabrials and metalminds and you got space travel. The scadrian shuttle we see in SotD2 preview isn't a huge leap from era 2. At first I also was imagining a century/century and a half based on Hoids comment about his travels..but the thoughts about his friends seems to imply he could still go back and see them, whether that requires shardic intervention/worldhopper extended lifespans/or they're just in old age we can't really tell, could honestly just be 40/50 years since book 5, that's at least the bare minimum to be older than the 3 women. He did a really good job at giving us awesome cosmere details while skirting around any tidbits about the state of Roshar. We know horneaters are abroad in TLM, thaylens now too, and iriali, although I noticed he doesn't seem hostile or prejudiced against scadrial, so their inevitable conflict might not have started yet. (Funny how the cinder king has the same idea as Odium that Rosharans could be cosmere wide conquerors) Now I'm just curious what led Hoid to give him the dawnshard, Honor seemed to think they weren't available in the vision and somehow was unaware 2 were on Roshar?! rust, just so many questions. The complaints back when the sample chapter was released that they didn't want to see a bleak hopeless future Sigzil since it would mess with his arc in SA are eating their words considering his development into zellion haha He kind of touches on it, but since traveling the subastrals through shadesmar already worked there wouldnt be huge pressure to develop space travel, save for reaching Sel, I'm guessing it's the colonial aspect of reaching non shard worlds that would be inaccessible without perpendicularities. Aah just so many questions. I think we just don't have enough info to judge if it's been 50 or 200 years, but personally I'd say closer to 50.

Okay so ive been dragging this out, i loved tress and yumi but been the most excited for this cosmere heavy book the most by FAR. I haven't finished it yet (Sigzil is just meeting with cinder king the second time) my only complaint is missing Hoids voice from graphic audio haha. Love the world, love the BDUs, love the threnodites..But my one comment is what he meant by "eyes that reminded him of those he had once loved/trusted" really curious about ideas there..i guess within a book only dliscussion and no cosmere spoilers idk if theres any theorizing that we can do, just really made me wonder I know Brandon loves his limitations and as much as the dawnshard torment is a nice spin, i enjoy glorious moments of awesome and wish he had more like Wax or Kal, but contemplation is an absolute badass. I'm assuming this gets addressed later on, but curious why they can't take shelter at the poles? If its like our world then it wouldnt get as much sun and more night, but i guess its just a temperature or food issue *Edit. Aah, mountains got it haha, i assumed from the star they were on a dwarf planet so the scales are a lot smaller

Let me just say, super excited we finally got a unit (he mentioned in a WoB they had one but needed to finish working out the kinks) I definitely agree that weve seen enough people heavily invested getting that same feeling, but i think it also depends on both the shard and magic system. Elantrians are way more invested than any allomancer/radiant/returned since they're directly plugged in to the Dor, double shards worth of raw power with no shardholder, and the Ire/Raoden/Galladon can just hang out in that state, same with Yumi who was also off the charts. But thats innate power, same with returned. Dont need to refuel. A few spheres is deeefinitely more power than a few breaths, like a AA battery compared to a reactor, but awakening is kind of a tiered system, doesnt seem like theres much difference in quantity in-between the different heightenings. Id agree on that. But until now raw dor is the most beefy source besides the bands. Granted that was brand new during SA5-TLM and theyve come a long way since then. Maybe its tied to the types that use it as temporary fuel, allomancers, radiants, since its fuel in the tank they get that urge to let it out (granted metals dont rapidly deplete like stormlight) and the bands are a unique example, more like unkeyed Dor. I usually dont include Returned in comparisons of other invested types or CS's, since as Brandon has explained Endowment is the exception, she kind of hacked their system, its why they arent sticky and can just stroll over to roshar without being tethered to it. I do like the idea that the value of breath is way lower than it was in Warbreaker era, but i mean, i guess it depends on what youre using it for, Susebron is still massively OP in either era, same with Wax or Vin, but if you need to worldhop then might be a different story. Also i wouldnt say Elantrians healing is bad compared to a radiant, they just need an extra step, headshot might do it sure, but rapidly throwing aons out there they have infinitely more applications than the limited power set of radiants and even mistborn. they have additional protections like shielding and teleporting as well. That scene in Yumi with the power ranking device was definitely a big help, but we still arent 100% on what aspects are universal or not, like if that first heightening effect from the dawnshard is innate to all different types, maybe 4th ideal Kaladin will mention seeing more vibrant colors/pitch. Im just so stoked for this, i started at the beginning instead of where the sample chapters ended, haven't reached there yet (looking forward to that conversation and vision outside at the end there to see if we get anything more) Also with that one single tease we get about about him having been to Ashyn early on, reeeally hope we get more tidbits about his journey and state of affairs. WOB said this is meant to be read before SA5, that whatever happens with sigzil happens early so he misses what goes down afterwards so as to not spoil the events of the book. He wasnt kidding when he said this one was made for the cosmere fans, yumi and especially tress had some solid easter eggs but were still standalone, this is finally a book that builds on everything else weve read, cant wait til thats the norm in era 3/4.

Threnody vibes for sure, and shes basically part Returned part Shade, then Heralds herself physical form at the end with his connection haha. Their whole situation is an awesome blend of everything, splintered god like the Dor and elantris, threnody like shades, fused-adjacent scholars. Also "awakened" device, not sure if wob confirms this is native virtuosity tech using their own mechanics or if we're nearer to tress and they started with Nalthis tech like the translator, either way a hacked Bondsmith device is insanely powerul even if it turned out like Nightblood (funny how both powerful quasi sentient investiture creations just swallow souls) The biggest thing i noticed was descriptions of the nightmares is identical to Sja Anat, shadow with pinpricks of white. Honestly it was nice to see Hoid casually chat about Todium memory jacking him, both glad he eventually noticed (or design pieced it together) and that it wasnt damaging. Id love if if his adventures on the spore seas was right after this, like being stuck as a coat rack made him willing to take the bet to finally become Elantrian and be able to stop getting interfered with haha. Ironically in that adventure it's kind of reversed since design was just in the kandras desk the whole time. But yeah, he absolutely suceeded in capturing similar vibes to FFX, even has a straight up Zanarkand dream city kept alive by spirits haha. He did a good job incorprating realmatics in a way that builds on it but also eases into it for newer people. I loved their training, my only real nitpick is she never got to do much nightmare painting. I really loved the hion line technology, incredibly vivid blend of fabrial adjacent tech mixed with southern scadrian style devices. Thats the second mention of sho del after the reveal in Lost Metal, like aethers he's finally seeding in the oldest lore, though if you arent a cosmere scholar itll be totally random haha. We wont get any info on virtuosity until dragonsteel 2 decades from now, but I'm just going with splintering being the final and ultimate artistic expression, following its intent.

This is exactly how i read it, taking into consideration what we know about the moment of death of heavily invested people, and connection. Kelsier was able to stick around a while, but was able to tether himself to the well, a perpendicularity, before the pull, but still in the cognitive, and eventually got a body back with Hemalurgy. Taravangian ascended at the moment of death, but as weve discussed in the past, he wasnt capital D dead yet, he would still be saved by regrowth at that point like yanagawn, so he still has ties to the physical unlike Kel. Saze would have been able to pop Elend and Vin back into their repaired bodies if they'd wanted it but willingly left, and the bands with f gold yoinked Wax back. Returned are basically getting a stapled hack back into the physical..but i usually exclude Endowment since she doesnt follow the rules haha, like being able to go offworld. Yumi was able to basically will herself back with intent using his Connection as the compass back, but the lies and training pushed that back at first. Remember, shes more invested than a freaking Elantrian, off the charts haha. She basically has direct access to her planets Dor, likely a mix of her role and the millenia communing with them each day. Shes unique from all of these, since it isnt a normal death, it isnt just physical body dies, Identity/self hops back in before going to the Beyond.. They aren't quiiite cognitive shadows, but basically, it seemed more like it transformed them directly into the nightmares, a weird blend of fused & threnody shades (With identical appearances to Sja Anat for some reason..) We know the spirits grant objects to townsfolk with the transfer, and make hion, I think as a nightmare she basically just pulled a Herald/Returned and used the spirits power of Virtuosity and creation to just make herself a body just like the Heralds do, and like she did inside the simulation. But definitely couldn't have done it without painters connection, it was a collaborative art piece haha. Honestly im happy with the ending, it isnt a high stakes book like mistborn or SA, just like Tress im glad they got to go live at the noodle shop.

I totally agree with the poster saying weve yet to see a comprehensive explanation for why all radiants would be in agreement on this, unless like the gambit against the alliance with dalinar, each piece affected a different order, honors raving about Ashyn and the dawnshards/binding of BAM/etc, different orders came to the same conclusion but because of different reasons, plus they werent needed anymore, and it wasnt worth the risk. As far as why binding BAM affected all spren like the sibling and making deadeyes We learned in RoW that odium now has a true tone of Roshar, the sibling sees it as foreign but even though he doesnt like investing, its happened So removing BAM and severing that would affect all of Roshar deeply, and my personal theory ive agreed with is whatever BAM was before being unmade is a big factor, spren of connection or tones, something that was deeply linked to the world like stormfather, and even though she was unmade it still caused a big impact, saving that maybe shed just done some exploit to grant voidlight and forms of power, and it led to repercussions, likely also leading to the everstorm idea

Well, we know ulim and the Heralds speak with modern English affectations and words, maybe just like that is from asshyn, mollys a holdover from back then. I just assume szeth is going to fight a stonewalker to protect molly the sheep..and will be made a warrior haha, demoting his whole family..itll be super sad. But honestly I'm just so curious.. other than moving the rock at home i have no clue what they could do to be sent to the honorblades versus just being made into a warrior, who also use oathstones. We know being made truthless is decades later

Of course bud! No worries, im glad the other guy found all the citations for what we were both explaining, those wobs are what always helped me years ago Its not like theres one single infodump in the books, its pieced together through pieces in all 4 and those wobs, so no worries, plus we still have some gaps he hasnt clarified yet. You arent wrong about it being janky though, definitely deeply flawed haha. Ir does the job but definitely not long term, CS crack over long periods of time even without torture. I disagree they don't have physical form on braize though, just because raboniel says there's not life on the surface doesnt mean they wouldnt. It could definitely be a blend of cognitive and physical torture though, but Kaladins brief time there in the vision is the only glimpse we get. But the way jezrien and kalak talk about their torture seems like it wasnt abstract, smelling their flesh and fat burn, tearing pieces off, definitely damages their physical vessel but just regenerates since they're CS's. The longer it went, the more their cognitive self reflects their self perception mentally, like lopens arm/kaladins scars, they view themselves as broken I doubt well get the full explanation until Taln and Ashe's books, think we get lift and renarins first, since book 6 will be around 2029-30 after MB era 3 and elantris sequels, well get the herald povs in the late 2030's hahah

Love the question bud haha, it's definitely been slowly hashed out over a decade now We know if they do get a flawless victory, or any of them survive, they do need to willingly return to braize, log off the roshar server, the final one we saw was them just finally refusing. We know the fused did respawn from braize until the heralds locked them away, it just wasn't as instantaneous as the everstorm, so theyd prepare everyone, have a desolation and win some of the big boss fights, then just head back. On braize they dont just immediately get captured, the fan understanding is theyre on the run being hunted until finally getting caught and tortured, sharing the burden. Id imagine very similar to what Kaladin was going through in the braize vision when he met Hoid in RoW. The mechanism to how they break under torture and start a return is unclear, id imagine its just Intent. It almost seemed like they never realized Taln never broke til near the end, maybe they dont know which of them gives in, although if Taln gets his senses back he'd know this time around it was Shallans mom heh As far as how it started off, i think the oathpact created a barrier, it blocks off the fused as they got killed, and then the heralds head on over to shore it up. the way nale and ulim talk he seemingly slipped through the cracks during their experiments transferring investiture off world. As for why not imprison them on roshar, that had been attempted before, they just eject from that body and come back, now popping them in gems on the other hand, that might have worked. I definitely think they wouldnt win without troops and later radiants, theyre all absolute legends but even they couldnt take on all the fused. The real question is why didnt they just get new replacement heralds, or at least each rotate out haha. unless they had to be from Ashyn, it isnt like odium not ever making new fused since he hates investing

What im still curious about is if Taravangian was right when he said he needed to hide his plan from Dalinar? Would he have been cool letting T give it a shot and told Szeth to bring nightblood? Or was it too risky, i mean Renarin dropping off the enlightened spren to give Odium a reason to pop over was obviously hidden to him, assuming Sja Anat told him to. He saw the light at the end of the darkness in his future, not knowing it was the shard haha, assuming it was a hopeful future possibility for him.. Really curious if Dalinar would have been okay with it, or innately opposed, its not like becoming Todium was the plan, just murdering Rayse.. As far as his boon curse, WoB has hinted it is still active, and knowing Cultivation might be a kind of handicap, like a much more severe version since hes tied to the other realms now. Maybe it works kind of like harmony where his intelligence days hes severely nerfed and misaligned with the power, and can only act on dumb days (which is still dangerous as we've seen in his dealings with Rayse)

Sorry to necro, just finished reread 10 & getting depressed we have another year (let alone til 2040 for SA10 hahah) But Dalinar definitely has a vision while hes drunk chilling at the Inn right before he heads into the valley to meet Cultivation. Its vague and disjointed, and he discounts it at the time. Its one of the visions hed mentioned at the end of WoK/beginning of WoR that hed seen already, but was way before hed started remembering and interacting with them. Maybe it started after renarins hug, or specifically after Jasnah read the way of kings to him at gavilars funeral, right before he marched off to the plains and took his detour to the NW. (Lending credence to the theories his mysterious Connection to Nohadon/Beyond started after that initial reading of WoK) Honestly, as awesome as the prologue is, especially basically confirming Shallans mom, and as beautiful as Kals chapters are, i wish there was discussions on Szeths flashback chapters, just life in shinovar, him following the stew instructions haha, its got a lot of little tidbits At least we have SP4 coming soon, hoping its as much of a cosmere bonus info book as TLM/Tress & the Dusk 2 prologue was haha. He did say it was made for us cosmere aware fans. I know he wants to keep them being accessible to new people, but after a decade i really hope he just goes all-in now, not wait til era 3/4.