Leuthie

I don't think we'll get much information about the Unmade until the back 5.

It's clear at this point that the Unmade are mostly off-world Investiture. If they were corrupted bondspren, we'd have more information about them in the front 5. Their explanations are being held back for the back 5 because of their wider cosmere implications. Front 5 is (mostly) Roshar only. Back 5 will most likely be more cross world, allowing room for non-Roshar origins to make more sense. At least, that's how I see it.

Plot armor is the key. Rand is a ta'veren, which means, quite literally, "person with plot armor" (I know it's described as "people around whom the Wheel of Time specifically weaves the Pattern with all surrounding life-threads", but the Wheel of Time is the author and the surrounding weaves are plot armor. Ta'veren is "person with plot armor") Does that make his plot armor stronger than Superman Prime One million's plot armor? Considering Superman Prime One Million's goal is to resurrect his girlfriend, I'm not sure his plot armor is all that strong. Power levels mean nothing in the face of plot armor. That's all the time I have, but the discussion moving forward should center around plot armor, not power levels.

Shardblades are made of Honor/Cultivation God Metal, not the Spren God Metal. The Investiture the Spren is made up of is brought to the Physical as a metal. I assume Kelsier is Harmony (Ruin + Preservation). If he manifested as a God Metal, it would be Harmonium. The big questions regarding Kelsier being his eye spike: Who is he bonded to that's allowing him to manifest in the Physical as an eye spike and why would this convoluted series of Connections be necessary when we've seen a Spren walking around as a Physical person while their Radiant was acting as a paralyzed coat rack?

Knowledge of the Spirit Web and how it interacts with the other Realms (or, better, how the other Realms interact with it) could lead to Hemalurgy. How you get that knowledge is the bigger question?

It was a red herring for Adonalsium. He's talking about Honor. Dalinar is was in the process of taking up the remains of Honor. The parallels make for a good red herring, but I don't see it as evidence that Hoid is looking to reform Adonalsium. I believe when the 16 (17?) were originally planning to kill Adonalsium, there were two choices: take up the Shards and act as keepers, or push the powers into something like what was done on Sel in the Cognitive Realm (this is where Rayse learned how to "permanently" destroy a Shard). I'm guessing Hoid was for the latter, seeing what would happen when even good people take up as much power as a Shard (Absolute power corrupting absolutely and all that). I further contend that Rayse and Hoid were friends and both on the same side in that debate. When they lost the argument and the others decided to pick up Shards, Hoid stuck to his guns and refused while Rayse put his plan of Hate into affect. All that pure speculation said, I'm not sure anyone is given the choice. He'll help me if it moves him toward his goal. He'll destroy me (my family, my country, my planet) if he's hindered. And I really don't know enough about his goals to know whether I'm helping or hindering, or even how I could do either should I be given a choice.

I don't think Brandon had anything in mind for the word when he first wrote it. I don't think Brandon is the type to take our speculation and shoehorn a created meaning into it after the fact. Robert Jordan literally changed a plot point from one book to the next because speculation turned out to be right and I believe Brandon has learned from that. So this is just a nonsense word that Brandon made up for Hoid to use. Hoid continues to use it, and Navani overheard his original use or Dalinar has repeated it enough for Navani to take it up.

I'm hoping it's something that we can't possibly guess.

Started with Mistborn trilogy, which I read at the release of Hero of Ages. Read Warbreaker, then Elantris. I believe I started putting together the greater Cosmere when reading the Annotations for Mistborn and Warbreaker on Brandon's website.

You're absolutely right. I should have looked everything up before posting because I've forgotten a lot. They both created humans. Leras' betrayal was in not allowing Ruin to complete the deal. We still have the "good" Shard betraying the "bad" Shard, the destruction caused by someone picking up the power of Preservation and not being very good at using it. Very little of the problems on Scadrial were caused by Ruin. They were caused by Preservations trying to save humans on Scadrial from Ruin. I still contend that Ati did fine in his containment of Ruin and could still be considered a kind and generous man. I further contend that Ati and Leras were content with the end result, them getting their ultimate rest and both Shards being taken up by a man who was well suited to keep them in balance. And their human creations surviving and thriving.

Ati and Leras were friends. They worked together to create Scadrial and its life. I'm certain taking up opposing Shards and settling on their own planet was the plan. It would allow the friends to stay together, and give Ruin an outlet as 1 half of the creation of life, which would aid in managing a potentially problematic Shard. However, Leras used a piece of himself to create the people of Scadrial. Ati was against creating people. This lead to a falling out between the friends. To keep Ruin from ultimately destroying his people, Preservation imprisoned Ruin. The destruction you see on Scadrial is the result of the Lord Ruler and his mistakes when he opened that prison and took up Preservation's power. I've always wondered about that epigraph. I guess being focused on removing the people your friend created would look like something a kind and generous man would never do. Then again, Leras' creation was a betrayal of trust, and even kind and generous men can get cranky when their friend betrays them.

This is how you should look at Hoid. It's also how you should look at anything you read on the internet: He's telling the truth, but he's telling it his way for his purposes. Hoid is 'lowercase t' truth.

Moash is still on Odium's side. He was fully healed from his injuries by the Fused and set free in an Odium camp at the end. Only his blindness remains. One of the big questions in this discussion is why his blindness remains. Would Inquisitor style sight spikes even return his ability to see if it's a Cognitive block rather than some Physical ailment?

I addressed the role of the Object/Container. The materials and form of the Object are going to affect the contortions that Visualization has to do to fit into it. The only reason this worked at all is because Spren turn themselves into swords, so there was a model to follow for the Investiture to contort itself. The abilities of Nightblood were defined by both the Concept that Shashara held of Spren and the Material Object she tried to stuff it into.

Awakening requires 3 things: Investiture (Breaths) Visualization (Form) Command (Intent) People tend to forget about the second one. When Awakening something, you have to hold the Creation in your mind, create a semblance of it in the Cognitive Realm. You then have to provide it a Command, give it Intent. Shashara gave the Investiture of 1000 Breaths. She then Created a complex Visualization of a sentient steel sword (based on her conception of the sentient swords they saw on their visit to Roshar). Then gave that steel sword the Intent to "destroy evil". I've always considered the Visualization to be the most important part of creating a Nightblood. You have to know what a Living Shardblade is. You have to be able to hold the entire concept of a spren that can manifest Physically as a sword in your mind clearly. When Awakening, the created Concept has to contort itself to fit the Physical and Cognitive constraints of the object that's being Awakened. In the case of Nightblood, this is only possible because Spren on Roshar contort themselves to become swords. Flaws in the Concept that Shashara Created defined the contortions that the Concept had to make to fit within the steel sword. TL;DR: The sucking Investiture, the mind control, all of Nightblood's attributes and abilities are a contortion of Radiant Spren interactions through their bond. Shashara's Visualization was slightly off and was forced into a poor Physical Form. The Command is interpreted by this contorted version of a bonded Spren and defines its personality and motivations. But the Creation of Nightblood wasn't in the Command, it was in the Visualization.

I picture a Spirit Web like a brain, only more complex and ever changing. There are soma and axon and synapse, electrical connections, chemical indicators, etc. It starts with a node/vertex and edge/links map. The nodes are conceptualized ideals that can be Connected, and the edges are the Connections. Each Connection has both directionality and value. All of this is "floating" in a "soup"*. The Connections can change the characteristics of the local "soup" resulting in changes to attached nodes and Connections, both temporary and permanent. Everything that did exist, does exist or can exist has a node. Everything those things have, can or will interact with have direct Connections. Secondary and further interactions reverberate through the soup. These reverberations are determined by the Intent behind the interaction. Each collection of Nodes and Edges is itself a Node within another Node and Edge map. This in turn is a Node in another map. The largest map is the universe itself. The next level down would be the Shards, once just a single Node Connected to all. It is possible with enough knowledge, Investiture and Intent to change any Connection and any Node to anything you want. You are Connected to Everything in some way, so you can affect everything. Just like a software programmer, the easiest way to start is to copy-paste from somewhere where it's already been successfully done. *By "floating in soup" I'm really saying that everything is immersed in Investiture. Since everything is made up of Investiture, there's little difference between the nodes, Connections or soup. All nodes and Connections return to the soup when not "in use" by the universe, and spontaneously return just as they were before when returned to use. For those who have read Yumi, a lot like the Shroud and the nightmares and Yumi herself.

I think it was made clear in the initial reading of the 4th secret project by Brandon at the end of last year. Nomad had aftereffects from holding a Dawnshard, was from Roshar and was a student of Hoid. In any case, I already knew Nomad was Sigzil before cracking the book open.

Fine. Painter didn't collect and shape Investiture in the process of painting to change Nightmares into less dangerous shapes. Technically, everything is Investiture, so everything you do is using Investiture. When you're existing as a Cognitive entity, you can't do anything without using Investiture. So you're absolutely right. I need to be more precise with my use of language and my description.

Yeah, it's a slightly rearranged version of Roshar where the Spren already have Physical manifestation and are all associated with a single "ideal". Yoki-hijo are Radiants who can interact with other spirits. I'm guessing even the most skilled normal human can't do it. This makes the set of controls built around yoki-hijos very important...and why building a machine to replace them was the stupidest of stupid ideas. So I get you. Derivative magic system built specific to the story from the guy who built his career on building magic systems can be disappointing.

Spirits are hanging out in the planet and have to be convinced through some implementation of skill (we've seen stacking of stones, but I'm 99% sure other methods would work) to do whatever you want them to do. We've seen these spirits bond with humans to create the yoki-hijo. Seeing as the spirits also bonded to a machine that mashed everyone in the vicinity into smoke and ate their souls, I'm not all that underwhelmed by the magic system. The people just weren't using the spirits to their fullest potential.

The Shroud wasn't just Cognitive Shadow soup. It was everything soup. The Connections, memories, souls, AND the bodies of those killed by the Machine were all up there; everything but Identity. Now, the bodies weren't as cohesive as before they died; much like putting together a stone after grinding it into sand, you'd need forces to keep the pieces from falling apart. So when the Machine was no longer able to provide those forces, the bodies turned back into black smoke. The difference between the Cognitive Shadows in this story and previous ones is that the bodies weren't separated from the souls. They were all destroyed at the same time and thrown into the Shroud. Heralds of Roshar get their bodies returned to them when they reincorporate on Roshar. So Yumi is a Herald. And ALL of Yumi was always there. Her innate Investiture was enough to hold herself together, part of the reason why the Machine was afraid of her. Not only could she destroy it, she didn't need it. She was the one that decided that she would die after destroying the Machine, so she did. Reminder: Painter never used Investiture. Nightmare Painters used suggestion to change nightmares and funneled this suggestion through their painting. Nightmares have no Identity, so they're particularly susceptible to suggestion. I say that because I don't think Painter did anything different for Yumi. He used suggestion through his painting to convince the stuff that was Yumi to BE Yumi. Painter stepped in and reminded her that it was their world, their rules. She is both human and spirit. She could just BE. So she was.

I hate the idea that Virtuosity copied the Shattering. I would hope they would be more inventive. Yoki-hijo might be considered splinters based on level of Investiture. And of course they're fallout from the splintering. They were created by spirits, which are the leftover pieces of Virtuosity. 14 might be Virtuosity's number, or it just might be the number of them that existed when human hubris tried to replace them with an Awakened machine.

https://coppermind.net/wiki/Moon_Scepter This was my first thought when I read the end of Tress. The Moon Scepter had to have something to do with Hoid's process in becoming Elantrian. According to the new postscript Hoid thought that correcting the Aon Rao of Elantris (or something else at the end of Elantris) would make him Elantrian. He made a deal with the Skaze that hinged on the change. Interesting considering a deal with an Elantrian ended up doing the trick. I don't think entering the Perpendicularity had anything to do with Hoid becoming Elantrian. I think he was just leaving Sel. It's the deal with the Skaze that Brandon's quote at the start of the thread is pointing to. Sufficiently Bound deals with entities that are pure Investiture probably creates Connection to that Investiture that can be used for other purposes. Don't have an answer, but Connection to Dominion, a translation device, and a Bridge provided by Riina, seem to be some solid ingredients.

I have a hard time believing that we'll be left with an infinite Weeping at the end of Book 5. A melancholy hiatus from the series is expected, but leaving Roshar in a state of death for the break doesn't seem like a Sanderson thing to do. It will more than likely be the state of the world during most of Book 5 and be fixed in the Sanderlanche. I'm guessing that Dalinar and Stormfather die early in the book. I'm also guessing that Cultivation will be positioned as both a savior of the front 5 and an antagonist for the back 5.

You're looking for Drabs on Nalthis. A Nalthian gives up their Breath and becomes a less Invested sentient being: From The Coppermind: Conversely, a dead body given life using Breath can be given more Breath and gain personality: Probably the impetus for giving 1000 Breaths to a steel sword.