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Okay, so I was reading the theorizing in general cosmere about how in the Gavilar prologue the Stormfather felt very different. I saw a lot of people saying it’s Ishar, something I agree with. This is gonna move along a few lines related to that, but starting with the point that made me post it here: 1) that reminds me of how Zellion talked about how his adherence to his oaths kept his Torment at bay at least somewhat. We know all Heralds are crazy, and one of the counterpoints to the “StormFaker is Ishar” theory was: ‘he’s far too lucid to be Ishar.’ But we know some of the Heralds insanity is magical in nature, which sounds, to me, not unlike a Torment. We know vast amounts of investiture (like a Radiant sweating an oath) and oaths, help Ishar overcome his insanity, again something reminiscent of Zellion’s Torment. He can summon his blade immediately after being in the sun, and could get past his Torment while following the oaths. Brandon said Sunlit Man had SA5 spoilers. My pitch is: StormFaker was Ishar, he was potentially bonded to the Stormfather (who said he “has experience with” Ishar) and/or he used his pre existing Bondsmith powers to highjack Gavilar/the Storm father’s budding connection and manipulate Gavilar. (We see that Dalinar can pull people into visions, I’m absolutely sure Ishar can do the same lolol). He could do all of this because HE was a Bondsmith/had sworn Bondsmith oaths, which ended after Chana (probably) and Gavilar died and the Stormfather decided to sever their bond, leading to his descent into full, unmitigated insanity which coincidentally started almost immediately after those two events. He also goes to get his sword right after these events, presumably because he wants his powers back, having lost them with his lost bond to SF. 2) that theory still works without Ishar being bonded to the Stormfather, especially because that could be a leap. (I think that the Stormfather said there hadn’t been a Bondsmith in centuries.) The other part of it though, hinges on Ishar having a Torment. All the Heralds are nuts, but it seems to ME like he’s extra nuts. And something like the Oathpact seems like the type of thing that could be created with Dawnshard level power. And we know the Dawnshards were both on Ashyn and all over Roshar, as is Ishar. So the second part of the theory is: Ishar’s insanity is part of/worsened by his Torment. Either because he’s a Herald or he held a dawnshard or both, he has a Torment which he can only overcome while a) following Radiant Oaths or b) around someone ELSE following radiant oaths or maybe c) around a TON of Investiture but that seems less likely cuz he’s nuts right by a perpendicularity. 3) more evidence for Ishar/SF bond I think is how easily Ishar (almost) takes the bond from Dalinar. He seems to know the connection well, as with the connection to Odium. We know that he now curses the Stormfather and that the Stormfather can still see him, something I’d argue is because of their potentially stronger connection now. I think it explains why the Stormfather is so jaded when it comes to trusting Dalinar as well. He’s just had a bad experience. That was a lot, so thank you if you read it, but if not: TL;DR: Ishar is the StormFaker cuz he bonded with the Stormfather and manipulated Gavilar. He held a Dawnshard at one point and now has a Torment. The SF bond suppressed the effects of his Torment, but losing the bond caused him to go crazy(er) after the Stormfather ended their bond post-Gavilar/Chana death. Tear apart my theory, provide feedback, lmk what you think!!:)

what exactly makes the bondsmiths so powerful compared to other radients. people seem to think that they are the most powerful group but what about surges like transformation or division. flight? why are they considered so powerful

A Bondsmith can draw Investiture directly from the spiritual realm that corresponds with the Shard that they get their power from. But if a Bondsmith had accesses to another Shard, for instance, if they were an Allomancer, could they draw Investiture directly from that other Shard via their Bondsmith powers? Could they open a Perpendicularity composed of the Investiture of that other Shard, even if they already have one?

I’ve been thinking about Feruchemical duralumin and all the really interesting possible uses for it, which got me thinking; if a duralumin Ferring were to store all their ability to make Connections, would no one else’s ability to make Connections matter to them? Okay, let me go more in depth; let’s say that two duralumin Ferrings meet each other. One Ferring wants to make fast friends, so they tap their Duraluminmind. The other Ferring wants to stay away and remain unnoticed, so they fill their Duraluminmind. Now, the question; would there be no enhanced Connection made between the two Ferrings, even though one is tapping a lot of Connection, since the other isn’t able to make Connections at the moment? That would mean that Connection is a two-way phenomenon; you can only make a Connection with someone if they too can make a Connection with you. Would this mean that a Bondsmith wouldn’t be able to forge a Connection with a Ferring who was storing all of their ability to make Connection away? I’m kind of embarrassed that I didn’t think of Connection as a two-way phenomenon before, as it seems pretty obvious now that I really think about it. I might still be wrong with how this scenario would play out, though. How do you think this hypothetical situation with Connection would pan out?

Here are the confirmed Bondsmith powers that I know of. 1. Bondsmiths can see the Connections of someone they touch. 2. They can make new Connections or remove previously existing Connections and give those to themselves or someone else. This allows them to learn others' languages instantly or to potentially steal spren bonds. 3. They can see into someone's past by viewing their Connections. 4. They can summon a perpendicularity at will, no outside investiture required. 5. They can create life-like visions. We’ve seen Dalinar look at Nale’s past, so perhaps it is possible to look at someone else’s future or to look at your own past or future with Bondsmith powers. You likely couldn't see someone else's future during a fight as it seems to require physical contact, but you might be able to see your own future similar to Allomantic electrum. We've probably already see Ishar doing this with considerable skill when he fought Dalinar, I would venture to guess. This quote says that you might be able to make yourself immortal by manipulating Connection, and I suspect that Bondsmiths could therefore grant this ability, as well as providing something akin to the Oathpact and it’s powers of immortality. It seems likely that a Bondsmith could cut off a magic user from their investiture by removing their Connection to their Shard, perhaps even magic users who aren't bonded to a spren, as all uses of magic (except for fabrials) require a Connection to a Shard as far as I know. A Bondsmith could perhaps edit spiritwebs by removing, adding, and moving around their natural Connections to places, people, and times. Honestly, they might not have the raw combat potential of a Fullborn, or have the many benefits of holding the 10th Heightening, but if half of these hypothetical abilities turn out to be achievable, then they are very, VERY powerful if they play their cards right.

After reading RoW Chapter 3 I just had a thought. We know Dalinar (and maybe? the other Bondsmiths for that matter) has the ability to infuse stormlight at will. I’m not sure exactly how much stormlight he has access to, but I’m guessing a lot—maybe as much as that of a Shard. Wouldn’t this make him the perfect candidate to wield Nightblood…he could literally feed it almost limitless amounts of investiture and let it do its thing. However, I don’t really see his character going out on the battlefield and doing any physical fighting anytime soon. Maybe he just has a 1-on-1 stand off against Odium or something. Thoughts? I’m not as well-versed in Cosmere lore as many of you, so I might be missing something.

So I was looking back through the scene where Shallan and gang is hunting the Midnight Essence and they come across that room covered in art, and I noticed something. Shallan says there are murals that depict 10 kinds of spren and guesses they're for each Order. There's just one small issue. There's 12 Radiant spren. The Bondsmiths have 3 unique spren. The passage in question with the relevant portion bolded. So what do y'all think? Is there a representation of just one of the Bondsmith spren? Is it an abstract representstion of the idea of a Bondsmith spren? Is this a writing error and there was supposed to be 9, with the glowing cloud, tree woman, and figure in front of a circle intended to be the Bondsmith spren? Perhaps the Bondsmiths were supposed to be unrepresented? I'm currently thinking either the second or third option, unsure though.

Ok, so here is my idea. A Bondsmith, and an Awakener of the 10th heightening, team up to make the Bondsmith immortal. Here is how the do it: • First, they forge a solid metal man made of steel. (interlocking plates, joints on the arms and legs, opening mouth/eyes. Movable fingers and toes, ect...) • Secondly, the Bondsmith uses spiritual adhesion to bind his soul to the metal man. • Third, the Awakener Awakens the metal man using all of his breath, creating a nightblood esque sentient object, only this one can functionally move, and has the mind and soul of the Bondsmith. • Finally, they sew together a cloak of thin aluminum strands and the metal man puts it on to inhibit his world destroying powers. (though he can take it off to level his enemies) So, what do you guys think? Is there a way to use hemalurgy to give the now Metal Bondsmith the powers of a Fullborn? What awakening commands should be used on this Metal man? Would the metal Bondsmith keep his radiant powers? *EDIT* Ok, so I guess my the only thing that works here is awakening a metal man, and therefore have a walking nightblood.

Do we know for certain which level of Radiant Dalinar is by the end of Oathbringer? Ever since I read it, I've been under the impression that he's currently of the third ideal (assuming that he didn't skip straight to the fifth with his 'I am Unity' proclamation), but someone on the Stormlight Archive Facebook group recently claimed that there was a Word of Brandon in which he said that in fact Dalinar is only a level two by the end of Oathbringer, but the WoB in question was only a paraphrase. Is anyone who knows the WoBs better than me able to clarify this?

I've always found it weird that there are only 9 Unmade. I know Brandon mentioned that the 9 unmade that were similar to the orders of knights and the Bond smith was the exception. Could there be a reason for this? My theory so far has been that since, the bond smiths bond with three "god" spren the Stormfather, the Nightwatcher, and the "Sibling". And the stormfather is of Honor, the nightwatcher of Cultivation, than the sibling must be of Odium. Could the bondsmith be the replacement of the Unmade? This bondsmith wouldn't necessarily be evil, but we've seen through Maleta that the KnightRadiants aren't all good and righteous. The bondsmith would see the other side of the conflict, this could explain some of the conflict within the Knights. Is my theory reasonable? Do you guys have any better theories for this? If I'm right, who could the sibling be?

Okay, so anyone who finished Oathbringer will remember Sja-anat, the sapient unmade that (seems to) want to defect from Odium's forces and either be free or perhaps even join the other side. So here's a really crazy storming theory I came up with: You know how Renarin bonded a corrupted spren? Well, why can't someone bond an unmade if said Unmade, say: (A) Is willing (B) Has defected from Odium, and (C) Technically a godspren like the Nightwatcher, the Stormfather, and the third one (which I suspect is Cusicesh the Protector)? Yes, you read the third one right: I think that Sja-anat (and all the other unmade, or at least the sapient ones) is technically a godspren, meaning that if someone bonded her, they would become a bondsmith. I suspect that, if she turns out to be genuine, one of the characters will bond her, becoming a fourth bondsmith, and the second knight radiant to bond a voidspren. This would, of course, be a monumentous event, and possibly even turn the tide of the war. However, it would also be extremely awesome, and I would like to see how her and her radiant's spren-radiant relationship would be like and how it would be affected by her being an unmade. Don't forget to leave your opinions on this theory, questions, comments and concerns, and who you think will/would like to bond Sja-anat in the comments below.

So the assumption is that if the Stormfather is bondspren #1, his counterpart the Nightwatcher is bondspren #2. This leaves us with the pressing mystery of who bondspren #3 could be, because the only other shard on Roshar is Odium himself. #3 can't be a Shard's cognitive shadow, unless Odium has a split personality or something. It breaks the pattern, which is why every Sharder and their cat is speculating about it. But is there an actual WoB that the Nightwatcher is #2, or is this just a "it stands to reason" fanon? Because if it's not the Nightwatcher, then maybe there's a different pattern. One that's nice and symmetrical (and we all know how Vorins love symmetry) when we see all the parts. *sends out the WOB Signal, waits for Calderis or Extesian to drop by*

When reading chapter 4, I noticed the Stormfather make a very suspicious claim: that Dalinar was the first person to bind him in millennia. Why is this suspicious? This would mean that Radiants were bonding him before the Recreance, however, the Stormfather couldn't have existed back then as we know him since he is Tanavast's Cognitive Shadow fused with the spren that previously governed the Highstorms, and we know that Honour was alive during the Recreance since he was able to send Dalinar a vision of it from his memories. How then could he have been bound millennia ago? What if the Bondsmiths didn't bond the spren of the Highstorms in the past? What if they instead bonded Honour himself? The Shards of Adonalsium are, after all, technically spren, so is there a reason that they couldn't be bonded the way "normal" spren are bonded? Could the reason for Honour's death actually be the same reason as the death of the other Radiant spren? Bondsmiths never received Shardblades, so his death couldn't manifest in the same way as "normal" spren. Also, unlike "normal" spren, Honour had a Vessel: Tanavast. When the Radiant breaks their Oaths, the spren's mind dies; in Honour's case, could this not manifest as the separation of the Vessel from the power and the Splintering of said power? This would explain something that has been at the back of my mind for a while. The Bondsmiths are supposedly the Order closest to Honour, and yet the spren of the Highstorms predates the arrival of the Shards on Roshar, and is thus presumably of Adonalsium and therefore no closer to Honour than to any of the other Shards. Why would the Order closest to Honour bond a spren unrelated to Honour? But what could be closer to Honour than Honour? This would also give extra meaning to the Stormfathers claim at the end of Words of Radiance: "I WILL NOT LET MYSELF BE BOUND IN SUCH A WAY AS TO KILL ME!" If this theory is true, he's already been killed once already. When Dalinar was unable to get the Ardents to marry him to Navani, he went over their heads and sought a higher authority, the Stormfather. Could Brandon be foreshadowing the temperament of the Bondsmiths as a whole here? They couldn't get any "normal" spren to bond them, so they went over their heads and bonded the ultimate authority: the Shard of Honour.

So I was thinking about the orders of KR and what we don't know about them, and I just noticed a few things. Firstly i was reading the article about dustbringers on the coppermind and noticed that it said they called themselves the releasers (which I already knew) and hated when they were called dustbringers which was a name created for them by the public. That's the part I didn't know, I had assumed that they were just given that name or something but it turns out the only reason they were called Dustbringers is because the people likened them to voidbringers. The ACTUAL name of the order is the releasers. And that got me thinking. They're called the Releasers but what are they releasing? It made me think about how another order is called the Bondsmiths -- but what are they bonding? So along with this relation between these two orders -- one creating the bonds and one releasing them -- there's also the fact that we know that Brandon has said there's something weird going on with this order. Not only that but one of the only heralds we haven't found mention of is Chana, the dustbringer. We know that the surges of Releasers are Divison and Abrasion and we know this quote from the prelude But other than that we know very little about the Releasers and their powers. It is heavily implied from this quote that their abilities had something to do with fire and we already know what the surge of abrasion does so that leaves division to be the one creating this fire. What are they dividing though, where is this fire coming from? Well if you wanna be scientific about it, they could be dividing the molecules of people/things and thus creating a nuclear explosion making fire. Perhaps this is why people compare them to voidbringers -- because of destruction. This, however, is if we are thinking scientifically, and this is the cosmere so that's the opposite of what we want to do. We know that the cosmere has a third state of existence. Matter, energy and investiture. In our world you split matter to create energy through the reaction. But what if the dustbringers can use their surge of division to split the inherent investiture inside of a person? Or if they could perhaps separate the person and the investiture rather than just splitting it inside of them. I believe that this is why they are called Releasers because they can release a person or creature from investiture perhaps from a spren bond or, hmm... let's see... from an odium spren. Now we know that the bondsmiths did something to the voidbringers to make them into the parshmen so perhaps they bonded them to something to stop them from being able to change forms. The Releasers, as per the name, likely have the ability to release them from this bond and let them become the voidbringers once again. This last part probably will never be addressed however as the everstorm is doing that job anyway. This "theory" is really all over the place so I'm sorry about that I just made a few connections that I wanted to put out there before I forgot them so that they could be discussed. So who wants to discuss them with me?

"But as for the Bondsmiths, they had members only three, which number was not uncommon for them; nor did they seek to increase this by great bounds, for during the times of Madasa, only one of their order was in continual accompaniment of Urithiru and its thrones. Their spren was understood to be specific, and to persuade them to grow to the magnitude of the other orders was seen as seditious. —From Words of Radiance, chapter 16, page 14" I know there has been discussions on the forums about bondsmiths, how there are only 3, and that they are tied to specific spren (which is why there are typically only 3), and which spren those might be, so maybe this has been discussed and i just failed at searching out the proper thread but i thought i would ask if anyone knows the answer to a question. 10 is an extremely significant (maybe even considered Holy) number on Roshar. We have 10 Heralds, 10 Surges, 10 orders of KR, 10 essences, 10 gemstones, 10 months in a year, 10 Silver Kingdoms, 10 Alethi Princedoms, 10 Highprinces, 10 warcamps, 10 heartbeats for a shardblade to form. Given this focus on the number 10, does anyone know why Brandon would simply settle on 3 bondsmiths as the typical number of bondsmiths? Why not choose 10? If they are tied to specific spren why couldn't there be 10 spren? Just curious if anyone has discussed this before? It seems like it would fit properly to have devised the order to have 10 be the typical number of members given the emphasis on 10 in Roshar.

But as for the Bondsmiths, they had members only three, which number was not uncommon for them; nor did they seek to increase this by great bounds, for during the times of Madasa, only one of their order was in continual accompaniment of Urithiru and its thrones. Their spren was understood to be specific, and to persuade them to grow to the magnitude of the other orders was seen as seditious. —Words of Radiance, chapter 16, page 14 This is the entire subject of this thread-- Bondsmiths. This quote has always bothered me, since other people seem to understand it so differently. I think it has some ramifications for some speculation I've seen that simply hasn't been discussed. First, a point about the grammar. I will assume that the grammar in this quote to be correct, and that this means we can draw conclusions based off it. This lends a great deal of support in my mind to the theory that Bondsmiths only bond the Stormfather. Their spren was understood to be specific Was, not were. This is the singular form. A singular spren. To stave off counter argument ahead of time, I would say the spren for Windrunners were (and are) specific. They bond Honorspren. Were here for plural form. Just a thought here. Now to the meat of why I made this post, the last sentence also says that to grow the membership to the magnitude of the other orders was seditious. I have some general ideas as to why it may have been seditious, but that is irrelevant. The important thing here is that it implies that it is possible. There could be more than three Bondsmiths, but it was seen as seditious to suggest that there should be more than three bonded. That is huge for the discussion of what the deal is with Bondsmiths. This was just something I noticed, and said to myself, hey wait a minute... So, all you Bondsmith fanatics out there, what do you think?

With all the discussions about the Surgebinding charts that are the Front and Back leaf drawings, I have a burning question. Why are the Bondsmiths and Truthwatchers so set apart in both charts. Early on I thought this was artistic backdrops, but knowing what we do now, here are some observations and questions: In the "Physical Chart" (I like the Theory), The two orders are inverted in the otherwise symmetrical pattern They are also the only orders that have the creatures' jaws and claws making any interaction with the sphere glyphs. The rest are all on the outer shells, no overlap. in the "Cognitive Chart", the two orders are very exclusive. They are obviously the only ones inside the store infused with stormlight. They are also the only ones with lightning (blue and purple) coming to or from them an are intentionally interwoven. They also notibly have no other surge connections to them, which is unlike the other 8. The other orders are all outside this in the misty clouds. My soft theory (because there is no other proof yet) is that the other orders are not seen by the spren in Shadesmar. This is why they lose their memories today when they bond a human, and have to slowly rebuild it. Bondsmiths and Truthwatchers get fully cognizant spren. Also there is some interplay of power or investiture available between these that is too vague for me to speculate details. Any good thoughts?

Recently in a thread involving the the Lopen a theory came to mind. It's stated that their number never went beyond three and that their spren was specific: "But as for the Bondsmiths, they had members only three, which number was not uncommon for them; nor did they seek to increase this by great bounds, for during the times of Madasa, only one of their order was in continual accompaniment of Urithiru and its thrones. Their spren was understood to be specific, and to persuade them to grow to the magnitude of the other orders was seen as seditious."—Words of Radiance, chapter 16, page 14 What is more specific than bonding a cognitive shadow? We know that there were three Shards present on Roshar; Odium, Cultivation, and Honor. It's theorized that the Stormfather is Tanavast's Cognitive Shadow, which Dalinar had just recently bonded. If one man (admittedly with a strong connection to Honor) could bond with a shade, its possible that the other members were capable of doing just that.

One thing that struck me recently was the difference between Kaladin swearing the First and Second Ideals and Dalinar swearing the First. In Kaladin's case, he is described as "explod[ing] with Light." The exact terminology and emphasis is used for both Ideals, in both books. In Dalinar's case, nothing. Why the difference? And what exactly is going on with Kaladin anyway? Let's talk about the second question first: what is going on with Kaladin, anyway? From the books, there are a couple of different explanations: 1) Kaladin is sucking up all the ambient Stormlight, thus exploding with Light. 2) Kaladin is getting a boost solely from swearing the oath, and would have exploded with Light even if there hadn't been any Stormlight around to suck up. I'm not sure we have the information to decide between the two proposals. In the first book, we don't get a close-up view of what's going on with the gems in the Parshendi's beards at the time. In the second book, all the lanterns in the hallway go dark, which supports the first explanation; but then, "For a moment, they stood in darkness", which doesn't exactly match how we've seen Radiants suck light out of gemstones earlier, where they literally inhale the light. It's also worth noticing that the draining of the lamps and the exploding with light don't happen immediately after swearing the oath, but rather after Syl forms a Shardblade in his hand. So maybe something else is going on instead, though it's still obviously related to swearing the Ideals. Anyway, that's Kaladin. But Dalinar's case is very different. Why? 1) Windrunners are special, and get the boost while other orders don't. 2) Bondsmiths are special, and don't get the boost while other orders do (much like Shardblades). 3) Situation is important: Kaladin had a need for Stormlight when he swore his Ideals; Dalinar didn't. Now this might be another case where we don't have enough information to fully decide, but maybe we do, at least somewhat. For instance, Jasnah and Shallan have each progressed at least to the Shardblade level, and though we don't see the progression ourselves, we can somewhat infer by its lack of mention, even in retrospect, that either they didn't get the Stormlight boost or they got it when few people were around to see. Ditto for Renarin, if he's progressed as far as the First Ideal yet. This seems to weigh somewhat against explanation 2). Any ideas? I have a somewhat crazy idea somewhat in favor of situation 1), but it's mostly based on me really, really wanting there to be ten Radiant oaths and grasping at any straws I can to make it fit, so I think I'll reserve it for now. I'm interested to see if anyone has any evidence or arguments for or against any of these cases, though, or any new explanations that I may have overlooked.

So, my though that Cusciesh is voltron spren has now been pretty well debunked, I would like to propose a grander, more elaborate theory/thought. Based on the epigraph above, we see that there are usually 3 Bondsmiths at a time, regardless of how large other orders may be or not. It may be that the Stormfather can bond more than one Radiant at a time given his power level, but I'm not inclined to think so. In tWoK/WoR, we hear of only 3 Spren who are very large and very in charge of what they have going on. The Stormfather: proven to Nahel bond with Bondsmiths Cusciesh: definitely spren, probably related to the KR the Nightwatcher: gives the "old magic" but we don't know what that means really and presumed to be a Spren My theory is that each of the 3 bondsmiths are bonded to one of these Spren, and that in some way, these 3 spren are similar in the way that honorspren or cryptics are different. I.e. not all Honorspren are like Syl in temperment, nor all Cryptics like Pattern. I don't have a lot to back it up really, other than that there are 3 very large Spren floating around Roshar and there are only 3 Bondsmiths at a time. Only other mention of Bondsmiths shows that they had a unique ability and they alone could address the divine duties and natures of the Heralds. I think that is because they are bonded to the 3 single most powerful/knowledgeable/oldest Spren on Roshar Well, there it is... let me know your thoughts!!

This will probably be a long theory, and it might not make sense at the beginning, but just bear with me. Okay, here is my theory: Surgebinding is of both Honor and Cultivation, but some orders are primarily related to Honor and some are primarily related to Cultivation. Okay, so what do we know about Bondsmiths and Truthwatchers? For one thing, we know Dalinar is a Bondsmith. Renarin is a Truthwatcher. (Ym is as well, but we're not talking about him.) Alright, so refer to the Ten Essences Chart and you'll find out that Ishar's (and therefore Dalinar's) divine attributes are Pious and Guiding. This makes sense, as Dalinar is strict about obeying the Alethi Codes of War and following the Knights Radiant (Pious) and makes decisions and tries to set an example for the other Highprinces (Guiding). Paliah's (and therefore Renarin's) divine attributes are Learned and Giving. Again, this makes sense, as Renarin is always eager to learn (Learned) and helps others out (Giving). Looking at the Essences Chart, you will also notice that Ishar's soulcasting properties are meat and flesh, while Paliah's are wood, plants, and moss. It seems as if Bondsmiths and Truthwatchers are kind of opposite orders, especially since they are the two orders directly across from each other in the middle of the Knights Radiant Orders Table: Yeah, Bondsmiths and Truthwatchers are basically opposites. So what? Ah, excellent question. And that's where we get deep into this matter. What happens to Dalinar that happens to nobody else? During the Highstorms, he has visions of the past. Visions of Honor, if I may add. And what happens to Renarin that happens to nobody else? During the Highstorms, he has visions... of the future. And which shard does Honor say is good at foretelling of the future? If that weren't enough proof, let's look at Truthwatcher's and Bondsmith's Surges. Truthwatchers have the Surges of Progression and Illumination. Progression has to deal with healing and growing, and, coincidentally, the word "Cultivation" has to deal with growing plants. Illumination has to deal with sight and seeing, two things that Cultivation is apparently good at. On the other hand, Bondsmiths have the Surges of Adhesion and Tension. Adhesion has the ability to bond things together, which is Honor's Intent. We don't exactly know what Tension does, but if this theory is true, it will likely have something to deal with bonds. If we split the KR chart into two halves (top and bottom), you get five orders of Honor-based Surgebinders and five orders of Cultivation-based Surgebinders. Another one of the Honor-based Surges, Gravitation, deals with altering an object's Spiritual bond towards the ground. The fourth (and last) of the "Honor-Surges" would be Cohesion, which, again, we know little about. Since we don't know Cultivation's Intent, it is difficult to prove whether the other two Cultivation-Surges (Abrasion and Transformation) are related to Cultivation. There's also Division and Transportation, the two Surges split between Honor and Cultivation. My personal theory with the Surge of Division is that it is similar to how Ruin and Preservation worked together to create life on Scadrial. Instead of Ruin and Preservation, though, Honor and Cultivation worked together to do something normally against their (or at least Honor's) Intent. Also, as stated above, the soulcasting materials corresponding with Paliah and Truthwatchers are wood, plants, and moss, which are all related to the meaning of the word Cultivation. Honor likely created the creatures of Roshar; Cultivation created the plants. If you need any more proof, look at the KR Orders Table above, and look at the border. The top half of the border (Honor's) is red, and has only male Heralds. The bottom half (Cultivation's) is blue, and has only female Heralds. Coincidence? I don't think so... So if this is true, what does it mean? I think that it means that some of the Radiantspren (and perhaps regular spren) are more of Honor, and some are more of Cultivation. This explains why Wyndle thinks of the Nightwatcher as his mother, and why Syl identifies herself with Honor and the Stormfather. I also wonder what this means for the other 20 magic systems of Roshar. Could Voidbinding be a combination of Cultivation and Odium? In that case, what magic system is caused by Honor and Odium? So, does this theory seem sound? And what does this mean for our knowledge of the Cosmere?

I thought about this one today when I was meant to be studying other things (Learning is difficult when you're still living in a book's world). The specific number of Bondsmiths was stated in WoR as three. Always three. The epigraph implied heavily that the Bondsmiths made the choice to keep their numbers limited. However, Dalinar's actions at the end of WoR gave me another idea: What if the Bondsmiths can only bond with unique spren? I know, every sentient spren is unique, but there are other honorspren than Syl, more Cryptics other than Pattern and so on. The unique spren would be of the Stormfather level, and he is a fragment of Honor. (I don't know if this makes him a Splinter, or so on) So what if the NIghtwatcher is the same to Cultivation as the Stormfather is to Honor? That would account for another Bondsmith. The final one gets interesting. Would they be tied to Odium's spren? I think it has a kind of poetic balance, based on the idea that to truly unite a people, you have to understand every aspect. One Bondsmith represents Honor (Dalinar), another Cultivation and yet another Odium. I'm interested in seeing what effect bonding with the Stormfather will bring about on Dalinar's personality. Does he remain a separate entity, or will the two minds fuse to a degree? If they remain separate, a Bondsmith could bond with Odium's unique while remaining level headed and not poisoned with hate. My previous theories have all been proposed before, or WoB'd out, but I think I'm finally getting on top of the speculation around here!

This is the epigraph: There's another thread with a theory on this. I wanted to create a poll though. Vote before reading my own take if you want.