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Hey everyone, so I am new (obviously) and love this forum so far! So I picked up my first cosmere-related book (not Sanderson book, but cosmere-related book) on January 1st this year-and loved it so much I finished the whole cosmere by August 21st (unless you count white sand- haven't gotten ahold of that yet). Anyway, I have a burning question and I was wondering if any of you know the answer or want to share your opinions- Does everyone in the Cosmere have breath? I get that they aren't all drabs but do they all have a breath, like from when they are born? Or is it just people from Nalthis (Nalthinians?)? I mean Hoid got some extra but Hoid is Hoid and besides I figured anyone could get more... Anyway would really appreciate any reply to this (And heads up, I really like parentheses as you can tell). Suppose I should also introduce myself- I'm a dude who lives in Japan although I am American and admittedly haven't read much fantasy outside of Sanderson (Do like Fablehave and Eragon tho, although I am still working on Eragon so no spoilers). TLDR; Hi. Who has breath.

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.

I honestly don't know where to put this question: in Oathbringer or Warbreaker. Apologies. I had a question about Vivenna. I know she can change her hair color, but can she change her eye color? Again, thank you guys and much apologies if this is in the wrong thread.

It has been mention previously that, for being the most invested object in the Cosmere, 1000 breaths doesn’t seem like a lot of investiture to just be all that is inside Nightblood. on top of that, Nightblood can do a lot of weird stuff. He can use any type of available investiture to fuel itself, even that which makes up someone’s spirit web, and he appears to have gained a very nice chunk of sentience. So how did this happen? My theory is that Shashara’s divine breath as a returned somehow made it into Nightblood. Whether Vasher forced her too, or if that’s just the way she died, I don’t know. But it seems logical enough to me. Returned are capable of fueling themselves with any investiture beyond breath to keep themselves alive. Also, a splinter of Endowment would give him s big boost in sentience as opposed to Vivenna’s blade (assuming that its awakened). Tell me what you guys think.

So this should be fairly simple... but probably isn't. Can a Larkin forcibly drain breath from someone holding breath?

I am designing an Awakened metalmind based on feruchemy and awakening. What I have so far: What is it? A metal object worn on the body (ex: a ring, earring, bracelet, necklace, crown, etc.) So far we have: An earing: Metal: TBD (Possibly Aluminum Use: *A personal assistant similar to Jarvis from Iron Man. What is it's purpose? (To be determined based on what type of metal is used) Is it sentient? Yes. The rest? (To be determined based on what type of metal is used) Key: TBD: To be determined. * = More information needed/elaborated.

So... I’m doing a re-read of Warbreaker, and this thought came to my head. When awakening, can you lose breaths? To add some clarity, I’m asking that when you awaken something and retrieve your breaths afterwards, can you possibly lose some? Ex. You awaken a rope. It takes 50 breaths, you only retrieve 35 because some was ‘used up’. The book always says you get all of them back, but I’m just asking if it’s possible. (And as a smaller question, do non-Nalthians have Breath?)

I have a couple of questions, 1: Are animals born with a breath just like humans? 2: if one were to give say a goat, thousands of breaths would that goat gain the heightening that go along with it? 3: if so what would be the purpose of a goat with all 10 heightenings? Other than to have a prismatic goat. 4: Could a goat awaken? Awakening requires the command to be spoken in the native language and a specific intent. Both of those things could happen purely by the goats instincts, regardless of whether or not the goat was trying to awaken. These we’re thought up by a half asleep me last night, as such they are a tad bit wacky.

Alright so this is my first time doing this and I'm very excited and pls be gentle. Compounding with Allomancy and Feruchemy is basically done by investing a piece of metal (I guess replacing the investiture from Preservation with that of a Feruchemical charge) and then using the end positive nature of Allomancy to generate extra power from the 'new metal' right? If this is wrong, hopefully it's close enough for the theory to hold. This is nice because Feruchemy takes a bunch of preparation and storage to be useful. Now, as far as I can tell breath is somewhat limited by supply, and cost. You could theoretically get more than you could ever need but it would be expensive and generally a pain. Because of this, being able to make Breath would be neat. Enter the 9th Heightening: This handy dandy quote from the Coppermind states that when you've got enough breath you can put some of it inside steel (Probably other metals too, but I'd assume that steel is the only tested metal). Now, given how simple compounding is: Could a steel Misting of the 9th Heightening invest some steel with Breath and burn it? Assuming any Allomantic metal can be used in Greater Awakening, any Misting could have access to Breath Compounding. Now, given how costly it was to awaken Nightblood, it's possible that you'd spend more Breaths than you'd gain though this process (Psst here's a nice way to patch this hole if you don't want it to be used). There's also a WoB stating that awakening isn't easy for non-Nalthians, but through Hemalurgy or Lerasium I suppose this could be entirely avoided by making a Nalthian a Misting. Anyway I've said my part, and this lowly spren is tired from all this thinking. Would love to hear corrections, compliments on my magnificent genius/stupidity, insults, discussion, really anything.

During my WoR reread, I just found this. On page 727, where Kaladin is in prison, and Wit comes to tell the story of Fleet, he's sitting on a bench, tuning his lute (or some other stringed instrument) he says this, " 'Perfect pitch,' Wit said, 'makes this all so much easier than it once was.' " This seems to me to be a very subtle hint that Hoid has recently been to Nalthis and become an awakener. What do you think?

...would the kid be born with Breath?

First and foremost: I'm on my phone and my access to internet is flimsy, so I couldn't search if this had been talked about before or not, and my grammar and format might be plainly wrong so, excuse me on both ends, please. I had a lot of thinking time today (where i have to wait in the car and only wait...) and my mind wandered towards the Cosmere as usual. It's very simple, really, but I cane up with something: When you awaken something there are 2 things that ease or handicap the process: if the thing had been previously alive, and if it had a human shape (or at least part of one, like... A foot) The problem with awakening iron or its alloys is that they were never alive. You might make an iron leg to substitute one you lost but awakening that would be hella difficult. But make it out of bone, or wood, and it's a lot more doable. Here is the thing: Trace Elements, or Oligoelements, are small, minuscule amounts of material that our body has and needs but are in such a low percentage that we don't actually count as having them. Iron is one of those Oligoelements, used to make blood (i think?) and the average male adult has 3.8gr of the things in his body (a little less for women). A very small amount. But it's Iron that has been part of a living body, that "remembers" being alive. I'm not actually sure how much iron does a sword actually needs. Let's say it weighs 5kg. You'd need around 1320 humans to acquire that much iron. Let's also assume our extracting methods are not 100% effective... Let's say that we actually siphon correctly half of a persons iron with our procedure and the rest goes down the sink with the rest of the blood. 2640 humans, for a sword that's 50% easier to awaken than one made from mined ores (as it isnt in human shape) It hardly seems practical (if at all), but imagine you GET to do that. Invest a wallop of breaths in the thing, command it to slay evil, and it actually works. damnation... Suddenly, if this method is known, other people might try to repeat it and slaughter another 2640 humans. Wouldn't it be a secret worth killing to keep?

I mentioned this idea in a series of looong posts about Nightblood a few months ago, but it didn't generate any conversation at the time (unsurprisingly, it would have been quite a tangent). I happened to re-read the thread, and decided to expand my thoughts a little bit. Basically, I want to revise the categories of BioChroma. First, I would like to demonstrate that there is a fair chance that there is something inherently special about divine breaths. It's quite simple, really. Children of Returned can have strange abilities like the Royal Locks. Normal people who reach the middle Heightenings don't have children like that. I don't think this is conclusive, since there could be something special about a cognitive shadow having children. That said, I think it is still likely that there is something special about divine breath. It could be a combination effect of the two as well. To actually talk about the categories, I think there are only 3 known types of BioChromatic magic. The creation of Lifeless, awakened objects, and on-self stuff like memory manipulation. The first, lifeless, include normal lifeless that we already know, and Returned. Returned are special case lifeless that have a lot more power going into them, and have the original person reattached. The possible extra stuff with divine breath may contribute as well. Endowment herself gives them the Command and awakens them. The Command she uses is amorphous enough to generally allow them normal free will, while still helping trigger them into fulfilling the purpose they Returned for. The second type includes all awakened inanimate objects. This category includes things that are awakened to full sentience like Nightblood. Awakening him was essentially a normal awakening, just with a much more powerful Command, a more effectively delivered Command, and a lot more breath. The only concrete difference between Nightblood and a standard awakened object is the level of Investiture dumped into him. Now, there is one caveat to that: Nightblood is an extra special case since he is more Invested than a mere 1000 breaths would imply. We don't know where that extra power came from, but it might change him enough that we can't even fully classify him as an awakened object any more. He might be something beyond classification, truly unique. I don't think that would necessarily change anything with my classifications, though. The third known type is the self-targeted stuff. Since we know essentially nothing about it other than that it exists, I won't comment on it too much, other than to say that it may not necessarily be restricted to on-self casting. I would also like to note that this may be how Vasher manipulates his form. I have always thought it strange that the Returned can just mentally change their form. It should require a spiritual component as well, and this kind of magic could potentially provide it. The 'run-of-the-mill' Returned in the Court of the Gods could be using this instinctively to some extent, allowing them to change over time. As one final note, these are only the types we know about. There may be more kinds of things that BioChroma can do besides these things. Like maybe shooting breaths at your enemies Aon Daa style. That particular example doesn't sound likely at all for multiple reasons, but it was the first thing I could think of. I could probably spit-ball a few more possibilities, but they would likely be even worse examples.

It's commonly accepted that Stormlight can be used to keep a Returned alive and to fuel Awakening. However, how much Stormlight is needed to equate to the singular Breath needed to keep a Returned alive?

So, I've been rereading Warbreaker with my wife which has meant reading slightly slower than usual as well as out loud. This led me to notice something that I'd never noticed before. In chapter 55, What I find interesting is what we are told in the very next page of the book. It makes sense for Lightsong to notice the difference in the skin colour, he has Perfect Colour Recognition. Why can Siri recognise it too? Here's my theory. Vasher's explains that the Returned reach their Heightenings not because of the quantity but quality of Breath. He also explains, in the Epilogue, that the Royal House of Idris has Returned blood. My question is, does the fact that Siri has Returned blood in her mean that her breath is of a higher quality than most people? If the quality of her breath is high enough for her to be able to have perfect colour recognition, she would have at least the third heightening. The problem with this theory is that no one ever notices an aura around Siri. Unless you count Susebron's comment as a reference to an Aura: i've always taken Susebron's comment as a simple statement on Siri's positivity and happiness, but there may be more to it... Any thoughts? Theories? WoB?

Simple question: Can Breaths be taken by a spike? I think I saw somebody quoting a WoB that it's not possible but I'm not sure and my searches proved fruitless.

I was checking on Reddit when I found a WoB of a real Interesting question, the answer was a RAFO but it may be useful to avoid the same question in the future: https://www.reddit.com/r/Stormlight_Archive/comments/51u8qu/oathbringer_spoilers_stormlight_three_update_4/d8u49pu?context=3

Hey Sharders! In Warbreaker there is a scene where Vasher is without Breath completely, making him a Drab. As we learn later, Vasher is Returned, so wouldn't being without Breath kill him? Returned need a Breath a week to survive, but what happened to Vasher's one Returned Breath? I know Vasher can change how he appears and all that, but how does that hide his aura?

I recently found a WoB that said that, in effect, that Sanderson didn't want to figure out when Nalthians got their Breath, whether at birth or sometime before, as well as how the Breath got there. He said that he would let the fanbase see what they could think of. This is the fanbase. Let's get started. The first part of the question is getting into a touchy subject, with the controversy over abortion. Thus, I am going to the book. The God King was born dead, and then Returned. The cases where someone without a Breath has Returned are very few, if any, and would have weird side effects, apparently. Thus, it seems logical that, at some point in the gestation period, the baby recieves a Breath. The second part is much harder. How does the child get the Breath? Does the mother grow another Breath and give it to the baby? Is something else going on? I have no good ideas.

Do all kinds of Investitures follow the Balance? The Breath Investiture from Warbreaker is a little sketchy. If someone dies, their Breath dies with them. So, when someone is born, where does their Breath come from?

I am reading the Warbreaker Annotations and this make me think: Therefore my doubt is: May a Returned heals a Drab ? And May he/she heals an other-Shardworld's Human?

What if somebody stores X number of Breaths in, say, a teddy bear. That person then dies, leaving the teddy bear full of Breaths. What happens to the Breaths? Can nobody access them, can anyone access them, does the bear gain some level of sentience, do the Breaths simply dissolve, or another scenario I haven't listed. While thinking about this, I noticed the similarities between objects holding Breaths and metalminds. Perhaps there is a connection?

Soooo... you know the part in Words of Radiance when Wit visits Kaladin in prison? This is what is said: He hummed softly to himself and nodded. “Perfect pitch,” Wit said, “makes this all so much easier than it once was. . . .” Sooooo I was doing research, on the Heightening, and if you reach the second heightening, you have the ability of perfect pitch. Question/theory: Wit has Breath. At least 200 of them, as that is what grants the ability of perfect pitch. And obviously, Wit didn't have it before, "than it once was...." is what was said. So does he? Does Hoid have at least the second heightening in breath? But yeah! What do you think?

This has been stewing in me for a while, so I have been rereading Warbreaker to look for evidence. Correct me if I have missed something and this is already something confirmed or denied. I believe that the way a Returned dies is by consuming their Divine Breath. You look at that and say "well duh," but I'm not finished. I think that for a Returned to be a Returned, with the dreams, the perfect body, etc, they need the Divine Breath. We know that they can Awaken if they have more Breaths than they need to survive, just as the God King did. So what if they stored their Divine Breath somewhere and moved on? They aren't consuming it, but they still don't hold it. Would they turn back into a normal person again? We know that Peacegiver/Vasher was Returned. The book said it a few times, such as when Siri is asking where the God King's wealth of Breath came from or on Page 99 of the hardcover when Vivenna comments on the D'Denir statues. We also know that he doesn't hold his Divine Breath, as he needs Vahr's Breath when he comes back to Hallandren. Speaking of that scene (page 22 of the hardcover), Vasher comments as such: From the Ars Arcanum, we learn that the Fifth Heightening comes at 2000 Breaths, or one Divine Breath. If Vasher can draw forth that Divine Breath again as implied by the quote, he stored it at some point. Now he is mortal and can die, but he still has lived for a very long time, perhaps due to having other Breath, perhaps something different. My questions are thus: -What happens to a Returned when their Divine Breath is stored away? -Do they still gain any powers from having a Divine Breath? -What "sacrifices" would need to be made for Vasher to take back his Divine Breath? -Did Vasher use his Divine Breath to create Nightblood? -Vivenna notices that Vasher's beard never seems to grow more but he never is seen trimming it. Is this just Vasher being secretive or does it connect to him being a Returned? This may be a bit disjointed, but I hope that my point is seen. If anybody has insight or evidence to contradict or support these questions I would love to hear them.