pmj812

There's one perfectly good reason to discontinue the Pits: keeping atium out of the world. Though it's just as kept-out if it's miles underground I suppose.

His masterpiece wasn't the gallery, or lessie, or even himself... his masterpiece was what all of that did to Wax.

At the previous Desolation, Jezrien says "They have the Radiants. That will be enough." So the Radiants existed at least as of the previous desolation. And the whole sense that I get from Jasnah's Veristitalian thing is that she thinks history is repeating itself. "Suddenly dangerous. Like a calm day that became a tempest." That clue hints at the Desolations starting everywhere at once, without warning. If the Voidbringers were not integrated into human society, then the beginning wouldn't be that way: they'd sweep down from wherever they were from, and fight a conventional war.

I mean... yeah, they do have waffles on Roshar... but they're like, crustacean waffles. Eugh.

yeah, I assumed that it was a Watership Down nod as well.

I know this is a bit provocative, and a lot of people agree with Jasnah. I'd like to provide a basis to argue that we know the parshmen can't be voidbringers. Jasnah's theory is that the Parshmen will become suddenly violent, quickly bringing civilization to its knees because they are everywhere and they are trusted to be docile. There's a lot to support this: -it would work; they are everywhere and their sudden revolt would subdue civilizations -the evidence she presents points strongly towards them But I suggest the following facts contradict it: -there were several Desolations -over the course of the Desolations, the Knights Radiant were a constant, present for all of them regardless of the state of civilization as a whole. So in order for Jasnah to be correct, this sequence of events would have to repeat itself: -A desolation begins -After the desolation, civilization is in ruins -the people, noticing that the voidbringers are now defeated and docile, put them to work -over time, the people forget that the docile voidbringers were ever a threat -a new desolation begins Here's why this theory is unlikely: -the Radiants were still there. They lasted through several Desolations. Their institutional memory would cause them to recognize that "hey, enslaving the Voidbringers has turned out badly... let's see... 6 times now. NO MORE VOIDBRINGER SLAVES YOU GUYS!" and that's why Jasnah's theory is incorrect. In the interest of being fair and thorough, here are the ways this theory could prove false: -humans hadn't enslaved the parshmen before, they emerged in some other way during the previous Desolations (But I think Jasnah's theory strongly implies that she believes that the cycle is repeating exactly as it did before) -The Radiants were wiped out every time, and had to be re-founded every time, allowing them to forget -The Radiants were guilty of massive hubris every time, thinking "This time they are surely subjugated forever" -The Radiants kept quiet about the whole thing, because for some reason they wanted the Desolations to repeat.

I has a confusion about this one. So Preservation and Ruin had to collaborate because neither could create. Animals were not sentient because they had balanced amounts of Preservation and Ruin in them. Humans were sentient because they had a tiny piece of Preservation in them... So do we think that Ruin is unable to give a piece of himself to grant sentience, or just unwilling? Furthermore, do we think that humanity has similar origins elsewhere? Did Aona and Skai collaborate on Sel's humans? Was Endowment able to make humans by herself? Honor claims credit for creating humanity... did he do it alone or did he need help? Are Scadrians more reckless because of their connection to Ruin? More conservative because of Preservation? Are Selians more ambitious and/or empathetic? Nalthians more generous? Rosharans more honest?

I definitely got the feeling that he let himself be shot. That's why he stopped to enjoy the moment because he knew it was going to be his last. As for the "why," because he's completely nuts. His psychotic, nihilistic ramblings suggest that he doesn't feel any agency for the things he's done, and doesn't see any value in living. This was his masterpiece, and his own death was the finale.

I like the idea you alluded to that Odium came calling and then was like "woah double shard game over man" and went home

The one that I'm still arguing with myself over is SAH-zed or SAY-zed. My instincts say SAH-zed, but the diminuative is "Saze," which I can't help but read as SAYZ

You raise an interesting point, Green. If he didn't leave a trail of bodies, he must have either claimed credit for the murders or been witnessed committing them... otherwise how would Wax even know to follow?

Juicy tidbit: Part 4 of "Hero of Ages" is called "The Broken Skies." Coincidence?

It seems to me that mortician would be a pretty good cover story for a hemalurgy enthusiast... at least one who liked being clean and methodical about it, rather than one who liked to be all Inquisitor Blood Orgy about it.

If PBA were a Shard, one of two things is true: 1) Their consciousness is dominated by the Shard's intent, 2) Or they're very new to holding it. Since the Sazed theory has been discounted, I'd lean away from a PBA Shard... because Hoid would know better than to even attempt to dissuade a Shard... Ruin couldn't be reasoned with. I expect the same of the other Shards unless they're just as new as Sazed. Furthermore: Hoid can use Shadesmar to travel between worlds. This presents its own questions. -Do the 17th travel the same way? -Do they know that he travels this way? We only see 3 members at the Purelake. Is this because... -17th is a very small group? -They're spread out across Roshar? -They're looking for Hoid on multiple planets? Finally, I propose that we can narrow the 17th's HQ (presuming it has one in the physical realm) to Sel or an unpublished world. -17th need a method of either interstellar travel or inter-realm travel. -SA is supposedly concurrent with MB 2nd trilogy, which in turn is supposed to be at a roughly contemporary level of technology, suggesting that the Scadrians haven't mastered interstellar travel yet. -We've been given a somewhat thorough accounting of the metallic arts, and they don't seem to include a portal to Shadesmar -if they were from Roshar we wouldn't expect them to use 3 foreigners to search for Hoid -Awakening doesn't seem like it would have any realm-travel applications That leaves Sel (where we know both magic arts can manage some form of teleportation), or a place we haven't been yet.

Here's a small theory about Harmony - it's been brought up several times that, because humans are slightly more of Preservation than of Ruin, that the Ruin shard will over time have a stronger effect on Sazed. The theory is, Sazed made the Koloss into a race that breeds true so that there would be a balance - the new Koloss are slightly more of Ruin, thus there are equal bits of both shards in the souls of creatures, leaving Harmony's power balanced.