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Sometime, in the distant future, some intelligent and lazy person in the Cosmere will invent the television. It has to happen. At some point. Maybe there's a fabrial for it (which is very likely; there's a fabrial for everything), or maybe it has to do with Southern Scadrial's magical machines of mayhem. At any rate, the question we should be asking is not if there will be televisions in the Cosmere, but what people will watch with them. So, without further ado, here's a trailer for a Rosharian Cooking Drama: (Cue Dramatic Voice) In a world, ravaged by storms, where death comes by the will of the wind... Five men will seek to gain glory with only their wits... and a spatula... The Horneater, born on the cliffs, his life dedicated to making food, and more importantly, eating it… The Shin, in a plant-filled kingdom, his only wish to convert his fellow chefs to veganism… The Alethi, punished for his past crime of making a new food with a perfectly symmetrical name, hoping to gain pardon for his insolence. The Herdazian, his arm lost in a tragic cooking accident, wishing to become the most popular of his cousins. And finally, the Parshman, his life sold to making fine food for others. Who will please the omnipotent god Odium? And who will die by the sword? Tune in next week for the first episode of… Scones Unhallowed! So, that's one Cosmere TV show. But what other shows could be developed?

Shardic Number Theory Revisited Part Two - Shardic Numbers Mesh Together Premise Previously we talked about the traditional Shardic Number Theory - 'Every Shard has a number'. Today we've got a slightly different theory. In the Cosmere, there are instances on planets where Shardic Intents seem to interact with each other. On Scadrial, Preservation and Ruin made the Balance Magic of Feruchemy[1]. On Sel, the Dor is apparently both Dominion and Devotion together[2]. On Roshar, it seems like Honor, Cultivation, and Odium all interact in a variety of ways which aren't necessarily clear yet. Could this not apply to numbers as well? Hypothesis Each Shard has a number which is important to them, often Realmatically. These numbers interact with other numbers of Shards on the Shardworld to more fully describe the world. Known Shards from Published Works Scadrial - Preservation is eight, and Ruin is two. Harmony is sixteen. Preservation has always been a shoe in for sixteen. And why not? In Hero of Ages, people suddenly start getting sick, Vin deduces that it is in fact a sign, and Sazed tells us that Preservation chose sixteen because it was an important number to the people on Scadrial. Wait, what? Here's the kicker. The Mistborn series as it stands is four books. The first book, Final Empire, deals with Allomancy, and Vin and Kelsier fighting the Lord Ruler. The second book, Well of Ascension, deals with Feruchemy, and is all about the Well and stablizing the world after the collapse. The third book delves more into Hemalurgy, and about the confrontation between Ruin and Preservation. Alloy of Law is all about Wax, Wayne, and Harmony. So sixteen is super important right? It's a sign everyone will recognize. Everyone in Alloy of Law does, Wax mentions it a bunch, it's all over the book. What about the first trilogy? Sixteen must be big there too, right? Nope. The only instance of sixteen in the first book is Vin's age. The second book has no instances of note at all. The third book, is it anywhere? Yes! It exists ONLY in the scene where Vin magically deduces sixteen is important. Fact is, if Vin didn't tell us, if that scene didn't happen, if Sazed didn't clear it up, we would never know anyone on Scadrial cared about sixteen at all until Alloy of Law. What's your game Brandon? Are you daft. No, he's not daft. The simple fact is, sixteen is not Preservation's number. Eight is. Eight is all over the place in the Mistborn books, especially the first book. Eight metals, eight people on Kelsier's team, eight Mistings, eight months of planning for the attack on the Lord Ruler, eight Inquistors guarding the Lord Ruler, we're drowning in plot-centric eights. Ruin, by contrast, we said might be eleven. Okay, eight and eleven don't really mean much. But eight and two do. Ruin's number is actually two. There's evidence as well - hemalurgic spikes work best in balanced pairs. Inquisitors have spikes in groups of twos, attached by the single neck spike. Four groups below and one above. Kandra blessings require two spikes. Koloss use paired hemalurgic spikes. When we get to the plot, plots where Ruin influences events are all in pairs - Vin and Kelsier, Vin and Zane. When we look at Preservation... eight guards, eight people per profession on Elend's council, eight people in the thief group, eight core people involved in running Elend's new empire. This is why sixteen is a sign. Just like how Allomancy and Hemalurgy combine to form Feruchemy, Ruin and Preservation's numbers combine to make sixteen. This is why Harmony is sixteen, and why Alloy of Law is full of sixteens. The numbers meshed. Sel - Devotion and Dominion, One, Three and Four Sel is not clear at all, as we have very little information. Based on the information from the previous post, things are pretty inconclusive. There is some evidence for five (in the structure and layout of Elantris) but five is taken. But when meshing is taken into the picture, one becomes an option. It's difficult to examine the viability of one, because one is used so often in books. However, rather than multiply systems like we see on Scadrial, it could be said Devotion and Dominion added together to make one larger system, powered by the Dor (which is a combo of both[2]). Thus, our most likely significant options, Three, Four and Five, can be balanced by one. One and Three would add up into Four, and One and Four would add into Five, nicely covering the significant numbers we can't reach. This is very tentative support, however. Roshar - Honour is Five, Cultivation is Six (possibly Four, Fourteen), and Odium is Nine Honour is Five? You must be daft! Ten is ALL OVER the Stormlight Archives. Pretty much everywhere. How could Honour be five? Well, there are a few things that are shifty about 'ten'. First off, ten is important in every Cosmere book. Yup. In Mistborn, there are ten great houses, ten original metals if you include the God Metals, ten Dominances on the planet, Vin was ten when she snapped, one is every ten thousand skaa became a Misting (whether or not they had noble blood), ten thousand people in the skaa rebellion, Mistwraiths are ten feet long... the list goes on. Nalthis has Ten Heightenings, ten thousand Lifeless, Lifeless skin is exactly ten shades lighter... even on Sel, the Reod was ten years ago. Even on Threnody, Silence had been hunting for ten years, and had first killed a Shade when she was ten. Weird. But there is one thing, one thing we know that Honour does that is Five. The Five Ideals, the basis of the Knights Radiant, the foundation of the order that lives to be of Honour. Incidentally, there are also five types of discovered Fabrial at the moment. Another point, 500 years times 9 is the length since the last Desolation, see my Desolations theory for why that could be an important balance between Odium and Honour. Cultivation, we don't have enough info for, as stated in the previous thread. Numeric meshing makes six seem likely. There are '30' magic systems on Roshar according to Brandon[3], and five goes into thirty six times. Four is also possible - we've seen four images of a woman on the purple binding chart in Way of Kings, and four and five make twenty, accounting for all powers on the two charts we've seen. Two is also a possibility: two times five makes ten, which might help Roshar's ten fetish. Of other meshing numbers of interest, 5+6 * 9 == 99 Desolations. 5+11+14 (if Odium is eleven, which is unlikely but possible) would equal 30, and Greatshells have fourteen legs for Cultivation there (that one is a huge stretch). That's all I got. Of course, Honour could still be ten, Cultivation one of her many options, and Odium nine. Then we've got the same problem of 'Too many offworld tens', and the meshing is a little less supported. Nalthis - Endowment is Five Endowment still looks like five. As there are no other Shards, no meshing can occur. Non-canon Shards, and Shards from Unpublished Works Mythwalker - Eight, Sixteen Mythwalker Shard(s?) seem to have parallels to Mistborn, and the Well of Ascension. It's possible their numbers were similar, and repurposed when the book was cannibalized for Mistborn. Bavadin - Same as before One Shard on Taldain, no meshing. shshshshsh and shshshshsh - Three, ??? Due to the split that occurred here, three looks very nice in this theory, and fits EXCELLENTLY. The other number is a mystery. Conclusion Shardic Number Meshing is good in some parts, and bad in others. It makes Scadrial make a LOT of sense, and deals with a large majority of the inconsistencies found in the other theory (which I politely didn't mention last time so I could use them as evidence here). Sel stays about the same, but fits just slightly better with Meshing than without. Roshar is a mess. But Roshar was a mess before too. Single Shardworlds have no effect. Coming up soon, the third and final segment going over some other options presenting solutions to the above. References:

In this Thread, we are busy at work Creating Cosmere MonopolyDomination. We have the Board and Basic Properties, But we need Pictures of Each Locations, about 60 Chance/Community Cards, Currency (Invesiture) and Pieces. Any Help You can Give will be appreciated. Original Post Update List! April 17th: April 20th: May 4th: +Ukurgi and Dzhamar +Taxes +Utilities +Property Prices Coming Soon: =Player Pieces =Rules =Chance/community Cards =Currency =Pictures Notes: Due to Copyright Laws, we can not use the Word Opoly, or Monopoly in our title, Thus, Cosmere Domination.

So I was reading the topics compiling the WoBs and I read that BranSan mentioned how important Hemalurgy was in the cosmere. He also said that it wont be exclusive to Mistborn and that investiture can be mixed and matched (I.E Breath and Stormlight) This got me wondering about how Hoid got all of his different powers. Could it be possible that Hoid is gaining his abilities through Hemalurgy? Obviously it's not a very pleasant thought, given that we all love Hoid and would like to think of him as a pretty upstanding fellow.. But perhaps this is why the 17th Shard is hunting him? Because he's been known to use such a dark method to reach his goals? We know from what he's said that he doesn't think of himself as any sort of hero and that he definitely has his own agenda. Thoughts?

Reading over the Ars Arcanum in Words of Radiance, there is a phrase that I've remarked on many times, as have many others. In the bit about lightweaving, it states: Today however, I remarked just how important this sentence is, because of all the things it implies. I was blinded by the whole "Yolish" red herring - the chapters of Liar of Brandon's website made me go 'ah, yes of course it is to' and I never really read the phrase. But there is so much more in this one tidbit. The first important bit is: the most similar ability to the original Yolish variant. This implies a few things. The magic is similar to the abilities on Yolen. 'Most similar' implies that there are many other abilities similar to Yolish magic, more than a few It also implies the author is familiar enough with them to make comparisons. The use of the words similar and variant show that that Yolish abilities all worked slightly differently As a conclusion, I think this a strong supporting phrase for the "Yolen has all magics" school of thought that has been bandied about from time to time. BONUS INFO: The Ars Arcanum author is highly familiar with Yolish magic of multiple types. How else could they make comparisons, and speak so authoritatively? How could they qualify it as the most, unless they had at least a casual understanding of the majority of the others? If they visited Yolen post-shattering (and if Yolen is still around), then how did they know it was the original? This strongly implies the author is from Yolen, or has associated significantly with someone from Yolen. Our current leading Ars Arcanum author is Khriss, who is super knowledgeable but isn't from Yolen, and is many many years to young to have been on pre-shattering Yolen. Nazh, another favoured contender, is highly suspected to be from Threnody, so same arguments apply. It is of course possible that they were simply taught about Yolish magic. But it is interesting to note it.

Okay I know this isn't entirely a WoR topic but Since I saw the original comment in this section I'm gonna go with it. In the Chicago signing there was this part that caught my eye (Its originally from the Words of Brandon post): We know after the shattering 16 became the holy number as it was the number of shards. Its still a significant number in other worlds like the number of allomatic metals in mistborn. However in SA 10 is the holy number. I was thinking that the reason for this is because out of the 16 only 10 were initially good or at least good in Honor's eyes that's why in his magic 10 is the dominate number. Brandon also said that Odium doesn't have 10 purposes. In line with my theory he could have only 6 or even one as he's quite selfish. I'm sorry I probably make no sense and someone else might have thought of this. So any thoughts?

This is my first topic, so don't judge. I was thinking about different powers within the Cosmere, and I noticed the similarity between Mistings and Surgebinders: they both have limited powers. What if there was a type of Surgebinder that had all of the powers, like a full Mistborn? Would you need to bond with each type of spren, or just speak all of the ideals? If this exists, perhaps Hoid is one. I have no proof of this, so far we only know of his worldhopping (and lightweaving?) powers. But if Hoid is trying to get all of the powers, note the Lerasium bead, this would add up. Thoughts?

The title essentially says it all, so I'll get to the why. We know that Shards require a sentient mind to be attached to their power, whether it's that of another being or one it created on its own. Well, I think that Nightblood essentially requires the same. Shashara tried to give it the ability to rationalize and think, but it didn't work because the invested Breaths gave it more of a Spiritual, rather than Cognitive presence, which I think could have been the original intent. Thus, you end up with a extremely powerful sword that lacks the context to fulfill its intent - destroy evil. This is where the cognitive mind of another sentient being comes into play. Like Shards require holders to bear their power, Nightblood does too - the mind of its current holder focuses the intent and provides a context to the concept of evil. Simply put, every time someone picks up Nightblood, we're witnessing (on a much tinier scale) something not so different from what Vin or Sazed did when they ascended. Simple, I know, but it just struck me and I had to share.

There have been a lot of Topics comparing Nightblood to other Magic Swords from other Worlds, But I don't think Nightblood can manipulate, or be used by, People from other Worlds. Because they don't have breaths that he can take. Not sure if this should go here or in the Cosmere topics. Also, How do you mark this as a Theory?

Tranquiline Halls theory/ Warning Spoilers for TwoK, Mistborn Series, Elantris, Warbreaker Ok I have a theory for the Cosmere. So in TwoK "Vorinism taught that the finest warriors would have the holy privilege of joining the Heralds after death, fighting to reclaim the Tranquiline Halls". Right? Here is my theory In all of the other books in the Cosmere that I have read life after is mentioned as a real place. as seen below in Warbreaker, Elantris, and The Hero of Ages. "He remembered the other side. And he remembered a voice, calm and comforting, offering him an opportunity." Sanderson, Brandon (2009-06-09). Warbreaker (Tor Fantasy) (p. 629). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition. "“Over there,” Karata said, pointing at the far end of the rectangular room, where the wall held only a single mural. It depicted a large mirrorlike blue oval. An Elantrian stood facing the oval, his arms outstretched and his eyes closed. He appeared to be flying toward the blue disk. The rest of the wall was black, though there was a large white sphere on the other side of the oval." Sanderson, Brandon (2007-04-01). Elantris (p. 281). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition. page 281-283 Elantris A note that Sazed left on the back of the flower picture of Kelsier's.[1] It is addressed to Spook and mentions Kelsier, Goradel, Rashek, Ruin and the rest of Kelsier's crew. The first paragraph talks about Vin and Elend, and it is revealed that there are 2 extra metals, Bendalloy and Cadmium, yet to be discovered. "“Spook, I tried to bring them back, but apparently fixing the bodies doesn't return the souls. I will get better at this with time, I expect. However, be assured that I have spoken with our friends, and they are quite happy where they are. They deserve a rest, I think. " My theory is what if the old belief of Vorinism is true in a way what if something did happen to the spiritual realm or the heaven of the Cosmere and now there is really going to be a fight to reclaim it? What if that fight takes place or starts on Roshar. Just an idea, but I would like your thoughts on it. Politely please I know my grammar is not so hot.

Ok, so I'll preface with two quick facts: I've read all the main Cosmere stories (excepting companion books) I'm an INCREDIBLY slow reader This leads me to to my question: Is it worth getting into the non-Cosmere works? I have many books and series on the horizon (e.g. Wise Man's Fear, Assassin's Apprentice, Wheel of Time series) and have to be a bit choosy with what I spend my time on because each book is a major commitment for me. That said, Way of Kings is my favorite book I've ever read. If I were to read some of the non-Cosmere books, which should I read? While I love Brandon Sanderson to death, I thought Elantris was so-so and permanently put down Alloy of Law after 2 chapters.

Hey guys! I'm at Jordancon this weekend. I will have the opportunity to ask Brandon Sanderson and Patrick Rothfuss some questions. I have so far: Odium shattered Devotion and Dominion because they could oppose him. Did they have some special ability to do so or are any 2 shard on the same planet a danger to him? If a Listener bonded an Honorspren would they get the same powers as a human? And if a Human bonded a stormspren would they have the same powers/consequences that the Listeners do? (Shamlessly stolen from a thread in the WoR discussion board) What would be the real world carat value of a chip and a broam? WoT spoiler Lightsong notices that there is always enough room in the Palace for the Returned. Is there a cap on how many Returned may be alive at once or would they just build the Palace larger? That's all i have any suggestions please post them for me PS if this is in the rong area please relocate it for me Thanks Admins!!

So over the break I read Warbreaker. I read it once a while back, but I was stupid back then and didn't pay attention to half the stuff in it. However, this time around, I picked up on a TON of things that I felt the need to post on here. There will be some theories in here, and I neglect to put this on the Warbreaker Forum because it is much less used. As I went through, I folded the pages when I found something interesting (don`t be mad, it is a paperback). I started doing this about a third of the way through, so forgive me if I missed anything and please point it out if its relevant. NOTE: There are extensive spoilers here, obviously, and this will be a long post. The first thing I noticed while reading a Lightsong POV is that he kept on using instincts to notice and not reveal information. I noticed this when he ... noticed the trapdoor and didn`t tell the priest that were there. Page 293, paragraphs 6 and 7. Paperback edition. I noticed a few more of these throughout the book, but this is the most important. I will find them if you guys ask though. Now, we know later in the story that Lightsong used to be a scribe who sniffed out robberies for nobles etc. This (to me) doesn't account for this instinct, so it makes me wonder if it is another benefit of being returned, having a lot of Breath, having a Divine Breath, or perhaps if Endowment was trying to communicate with him. The next page I folded is when Lightsong is musing about how the Returned look. Page 350, paragraph 2. This I marked because it reminded me of the powers of observation and the way the spren worked. This point is proven later towards the end, when Vasher tells Vivenna about this as well. I folded down page 360 because of a Slumlord named Rira. I seemed to remember a thread somewhere that mentioned a Rira in Words of Radiance or TwoK. It may just be the country that Kaladin mentioned when thinking about Adolin's hair though. I might also be crazy. For the record I thought that if he was somewhere else, then he must be a Worldhopper, and my mind got away from me a bit. I folded down the beginning and end of the Hoid conversation as well. Due to events later in the book and how Hoid has a knack at being places, it seems stretched for me to believe that he wasn't on Nealthis for the Manywar and the events that happened there and I wondered why he didn't tell the whole truth to Lightsong and Siri. Pages 373-384. This next fold is when Vasher kidnaps Vivenna. Now, she mentioned before I started folding that she couldn't sense Jewels because she is a drab. I remembered this and marked the page because she mentioned Vasher approaching her with a lot of Breath. WoR spoiler: I'm too lazy to get the exact quote from the book at the moment, but I triple-checked earlier. I will (maybe tomorrow) make a thread dedicated to a Vasher theory, and I will put the link down here as well. I folded the pages where Vasher explains most of the BioChromatic entities to Vivenna. 507 and 508. I folded 513 because of Lightsong's thoughts at the beginning of the chapter. Can there only be a certain number? This would be a good question for Brandon in my opinion. Does it have something to do with the power of belief/observation that seems to be an important role in the Cosmere? Next worthy point of mine: This seems like WAY to much of a coincidence to the topic of the power of belief, and how an object views itself to not post it. Page 567 Thanks for your time, and sorry if these have been brought to light before

The first part is not really a theory but a recollection of what is the source and what the focus of a power is, most of the work is done here. (http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/7207-investiture-and-the-metallic-arts/) The second part is basically saying that each Investiture is based in each realm on something that acts as an "anchor" for the power. E.g while Surgebinding is quite obviously powered by stormlight, I pose that the element on the Cognitive plane that allows this to happen is the Words. The basic idea is layman's explanation vs. realmatics'. It's VERY rough, and I'm kind of new to the Cosmere, so I'm hoping for either help or a debunking. Or that it suggests people something. Investiture AonDor Surgebinding Allomancy Feruchemy Hemalurgy Awakening Power Dor3 Stormlight Mists(??) Bodily Functions Corpse's Breath Attributes Focus Aon Nahel Bond1 Metal Metal Metal + Command Location2 Physical Geographical One's actions5 Genealogy Genealogy Spike's Awk.ned Position (??) Location Object Cognitive Aon Words Metal's Metal's Spike's Command "Signature"4 "Signature"4 Metal Spiritual Dor3 Stormlight (??) (??) (??) Corpse's Breath Soul (??) 1 Wasn't sure how to refer to this, I meant the surges a binder has access to, but rethinking it, it seems that Nahel Bond is representative of that 2 The spike's, obviously 3 I'm not really sure of the Dor as the spiritual side, while I am as a source. I'm just not clear on what it is, probably 4 See the same topic 5 What I mean here, is how you act in relation to the Words. Wiki docet. And WoR.

So according to TVTropes, it's heavily implied that Zahel is Vasher from Warbreaker (Which I have yet to read- gonna finish Well of Ascension first) and that Nightblood returns as Szeth's new sword. I was wondering after having read it, so I decided to ask someone who actually read Warbreaker- or more specifically, a whole forum of them- for help understanding the connections.

Investiture is the fuel of magic in the Cosmere. In the Stormlight Archive series, it exists as the titular Stormlight and is absorbed into the body and directly "burned" to cause an effect in the world. In Warbreaker it exists as "breath" granting humans the ability to sense one another and, in increased amounts gives them super human abilities. To create an effect on the outside world, it must leave the Awakener's body and be invested in an object with intent. Both of these systems deal with raw investiture, and investiture has to leave the body to perform its work. Then there’s Allomancy. Allomancers do not consciously deal with investiture, they deal with metal. Metal is burned to allow them to perform their abilities. This raises the question: where is the investiture? Is it in the metal of Scadrial? Is it in the Allomancers themselves? All of the Mettalic Arts deal with these metals, but does that mean the metals are special? I need help from those of you who remember more WoB than I do: What has he talked about in terms of where the investiture comes from in Allomancy? I know he said that allomantically viable metals could be made from soulcasting, which leads me to believe the metals aren’t the source. Is the source in the people of Scadrial, like breath? Is it leftover investiture from burning Preservation’s body that has been passed down somehow, generation through generation? Am I missing something so blindingly obvious I will be embarrassed when someone points it out? Let me know Thanks for reading! I would love feedback, as I want to make sure these ideas make sense. P.S. Am I going crazy or do I remember correctly that Ferrochemy isn’t from preservation or Ruin. It has been a long time since my last read, and I will be rereading the series shortly making notes along the way, but I seem to remember that being said. If so, this is very important

On the way to work today, I heard a song on the radio. By the end of the first verse, it had sparked a really strong "skaa" vibe in my brain, evoking images of the downtrodden masses (and maybe a hint of the skaa rebellion's spark just starting to heat up...) that really fit with my own vision of the book when I first read it. This got me thinking about what the "soundtrack" of Mistborn would sound like, if it were stitched together from existing songs. What sort of bad-chull tune is playing when Kelsier strolls out of the Mist to eradicate an entire manor house of nobility at the end of the first prologue? What melancholy piece might give us a glimpse into Sazed's heartbreaking crisis of faith after the Siege of Luthadel? I'd love to put together soundtracks (of indeterminate length) that could re-tell Brandon's stories. Obviously this is an extremely subjective undertaking, but I'd bet there are at least a few songs out there that would resonate with the majority of the 17S community. If nothing else, it might be a fun group project/game, no? The only "rule" that I came up with is "no songs from actual musicals". It just feels too much like cheating to me, but who knows, maybe I'd change my mind if presented with a really good example. (Similarly, non-lyrical pieces strike me as a bit too abstract and open to individual interpretation for this sort of thing. But again, I could absolutely be proven wrong!) What say you, 17S folk? What do the soundtracks of the Cosmere sound like? Edit: I didn't realize the forums had thematically appropriate swear filters. Laughing so much over "bad-chull"

For the longest time, prior to stumbling upon this forum, I had a theory that Elantris and the Mistborn series were set on the same planet. The reason being, the mention of people on another continent that the main characters did not know about in Mistborn. I thought that these people were the people in Elantris, and furthermore, that the chasm that suddenly appeared and ruined everything in Elantris was caused by the Lord Ruler moving and reshaping the world. I now know this is wrong, but I still think that the two could be related. The way I see it, when the Lord Ruler was moving the planet itself around the solar system, this would have had effects on other planets, and if Scadrial and Sel are in the same solar system, then Sel could have been affected. By moving Scadrial past Sel, its gravitational pull could have affected the other planet, causing an earthquake, and therefore the creation of the chasm. It couldn't be caused by Sazed or Vin from when they held the power, because the Mistborn series takes place after Elantris, but the Lord Ruler would have effected the world one thousand years before, which could put it, chronologically, when the chasm was formed. We also know that Odium did not cause the chasm, and that it did not occur naturally. This might be easily disproved, however, if Sel and Scadrial aren't in the same solar system, but I haven't found anything to against this being a possibility. Thoughts?

I asked Brandon a question or two about Shadesmar and Elantris. Ben McSweeney and Isaac Stewart were also present. Me: So, I don't actually own a hardcover copy of The Way of Kings, but I did notice when looking at one that there's a map of Shadesmar... And that the map shows that Shadesmar geography is precisely aligned with Roshar's geography... So I'm just going to assume that other planets we've visited so far also have realms of Shadesmar that are aligned geographically. Brandon: That's very clever of you! (smiles) Very clever... Me: So I guess my follow-up question is: is Elantris a Dawncity? Brandon: Hmm. I could see where your reasoning could come to that conclusion, but no. No, that's not it. But your earlier extrapolations are in the right direction. Ben, Isaac: Yeah, you're in the right direction.

Hi all, i'm new here and just wanted to ask more experienced 17th Sharders here their thoughts on the grouping of remaining Shards & major Shardworlds. Thus far the books have revealed: Preservation & Ruin (Harmony) on Scadrial (Mistborn world) - both holders deceased. New holder holds both Devotion & Dominion on Sel (Elantris & Emperor's Soul) - both holders deceased Endowment on Nalthis (Warbreaker) - holder alive but unnamed Honor & Cultivation on Roshar (Stormlight) - Honor deceased, Cultivation alive but unnamed. Odium on Braize but invested in Roshar (Stormlight) - Rayse, alive. Unknown disease effecting Shard on Ashyn (Silence Divine info from signings & forums) - holder unnamed, no idea if he/she still lives so close to Odium. Bavadin's Shard on Taldain (White Sands info from forums and coppermind.net) - Bavadin still alive if the Letter is any guide. That leaves 6 shards & their holders unaccounted for (though one is called Survival on Coppermind) & 2 unnamed worlds & Yolen (Dragonsteel & Liar info from coppermind.net) I read on one of the forums that there's a "Wandering" Shard that is on no planet, leaving 5 Shards spread accross the 3 as yet Shard-less worlds. UNLESS Bavain's Shard and the Shard on Ashyn have roommates (worldmates?). So far there's been only 1-3 Shard on any given world. I'm guessing Odium wouldn't be a pleasant roommate (forget the security deposit or the furniture ever coming back), so we could safely discount a second Shard on Braize. Any thoughts? or have I left anything out? By the way I LOVE THE COSMERE!

The quote that got me thinking about the Stormfather's identity was this: from when he was confronted with the idea of bonding to Dalinar. So What is a Sliver? source Does this mean that the Stormfather has held, or is the cognitive aspect of someone who has held part of the Honor Shard? Could this be connected to his Vorin association with Jezrien? If this is true, why did he hold the power, how did he gain access (Shardpool in the Horneater peaks?), and what did he change while he held it? Where was Tanavast when this happened? Was the Honor Shard shattered at the same time that Tanavast was killed? We also know that he is a spren of some kind as he forms a Nahel bond with Dalinar to form a Bondsmith. Were all ~three of them bonded to the Stormfather? Is the Nahel bond necessarily one-to-one? If so, how is he still alive assuming they are gone? Do spren only die if oaths are broken? Could one of the old Bondsmiths have held the power, and would that make the Stormfather a Sliver? I had intended to come up with a more concrete theory, but obviously have more questions than ideas. Hopefully this can help start a discussion some of you will find interesting!

I want to give context to the question I asked Brandon at the LA signing, but you can skip ahead if you just want the punchline. Some time ago I was reading the Well of Ascension alternate ending. It is significantly different from the original, and most of what I am interested in happens on page 2 where Sazed fights Marsh. The remainder of this post contains spoilers, so beware. In this ending, Marsh and Sazed are fighting at the remote headquarters of the Steel Inquisitors. In particular, Marsh is fighting to prevent Sazed from going back to the etched steel plate where he would discover Ruin's trickery. During the fight, however, there is a significant change. Marsh is about to strike the killing blow when several mist spirits show up. These spirits appear to have a mental argument with Marsh, which eventually culminates in him fleeing the building and leaving Sazed to discover the truth behind the prophecy. Originally, I thought that these spirits were the manifestations of other Shards. Presumably, they had enough future sight to see that Marsh couldn't be allowed to kill Sazed as the latter was still destined to pick up Ruin and Preservation. This was exciting to me, so I asked Brandon if he could tell me more about them. The answer is much more interesting! His inscription on my book is thus: He went on to say that in the alternate ending, the mist spirits are the Cognitive Shadows of the First Generation of Kandra. Of course, they were aware of the original version of the prophecy and Sazed's importance. This was removed from the book so that it didn't cloud the waters. However, there is a story where these ideas were later incorporated - Shadows for Silence! The shades are these types of objects. Furthermore, and perhaps even more interestingly, he mentioned one other person in this context, someone who "refuses to stay dead" - referring to Kelsier. In any case, I figured that this is of general interest and allows us to connect several previously disparate phenomenon.

Not so much a theory, but Cosmere-related. There's just these couple of recurring things I noticed in the Cosmere novels that are minor, but thought were cute and I'm not even sure if Sanderson knows he's doing it. Actually, I hope you don't read this Sanderson, because I love these things and wouldn't want you to become too conscious and stop them lol. NOT: THERE ARE SPOILERS BELOW TO A NUMBER OF BOOKS Anyway, this is what they are: Each female lead in each of the Cosmere stories is on a trip of betrothal. Excepting Vin, this is true: -Serene going to Raodan (Elantris) -Vivienna to the god-king (Warbreaker) -Shallan to Adolin (Words of Radiance) I am nicknaming this the Betrothal Cosmere Trope. The second one is: Most stories so far ends with a character becoming a literal giant -Sazed breaking out of the cell (Hero of Ages) -Shai escaping the monsters (Emperor's Soul) -Vasher becoming Warbreaker (Warbreaker) -The uncle turning out to be the pirate-barbarian (Elantris; not so much literal) I call it the Hulk Cosmere Trope. Just thought I'd share this. I think it's awesome.

Be warned: this challenge is not for the faint of heart. Seventeenth Sharders, welcome to my humble abode of challenge and book loving. I find that this is the eve of the last week before we are blessed with the release of Words of Radiance. Indeed, I must say that the warm fire of Brandonium burns comfortably in my stomach, Heightening my anticipation. However, this challenge, as I said, is not for the faint of heart; it goes beyond Skimming, involving fully Reoding the complete works of Brandon Sanderson's cosmere, in order to reAwaken our knowledge of his universe. I want to Lash out at the people who have already read it, and my impatience will make me snap. Fear not, for I have a plan. Every day, I intend on reading at least one of his books (Alloy of Law and Emperor's Soul are put on the same day). Then, on Tuesday, I will finish by devouring Words of Radiance. Here is my schedule, for those of you who are brave enough to join me: Tuesday: Mistborn, the Final Empire. Wednesday: Mistborn, the Well of Ascension Thursday: Mistborn, the Hero of Ages Friday: Alloy of Law, Emperor's Soul Saturday: Elantris Sunday: Warbreaker And finally: Monday: The Way of Kings. As I go through this Olympian endeavor, I will post my thoughts about the challenge and the books themselves. I encourage you all: Join me! Happy Reading, Sharders.

Hey guys, my second post, so sorry if this has been said before. Do we have any evidence at all that you could be a savant without using an allomantic power? For example, could one become a Stormlight savant if they depend on it for too long?