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So we know Nightblood is full of Investiture. It is so full it bleeds black smoke. It is more invested than an Honorblade, can kill vessels of shards, and was made by awakening. Nightblood was based on shardblade design maybe even honorblade design. It seems to me that the 5 scholars at the height of awakening scholarship traveled to Roshar. They were impressed by the shard blades. The sleepless were tasked with guarding the dawnshards. One way to protect a dawnshard from Odium is to make it harder to reach. They gave it to shashara who created nightblood. She got the dawnshard Destroy. They decided the best way to safetly use it was if it was comomanded only to destroy evil. They figured that would make the dawnshard safer. Rsyan was commanded to not bind a spren because using the dawnshard in conjunction with magic is dangerous. Ie creating Nightblood with awakening. A shardblade so powerful because the dawnshard (similar to having the 5th heightening) was used as the force to awaken it, maybe with additional breaths. What do you think an awakened solider with the Destroy Dawnshard looks like?

Is there any chance Rysn ever will be able to use the Dawnshard? Apologies if Dawnshard answered this question. I don’t have that novella, and it’s been a while since I’ve read it.

A question just occurred to me. Let’s say you are goods divine hatred, separated from all that gave it context and your main goal in life seems to be destroying any entity that could ever rival you in power or influence. So you set out to destroy all the other shards. Which ones would you go after? The ones by themselves? Perhaps. Seems like a safe bet. The ones who pose the greatest challenge to your goals? Perhaps. Depending on if you think you could get the advantage over them. How about where a pair of shards are already at battle with each other? Seems like the place I would want to start. But no, where do you end up going? A system containing 2 shards who appear to be working together, who seem content to stay out of your way. The only thing I can figure is that he was tricked into going there or he thought he would have help *squints suspiciously at cultivation* but what ended up happening was exactly what I would have guessed would happen. The two shards in that system were very smart and powerful and trapped him there were he ultimately end up getting killed (at least the vessel). So Why on Adonalsium green earth did Odium think going to the Roshar system would be a good idea? Why not pick off the single shards first or go after the ones already in conflict with one another? What am I missing? What would be worth going up against those odds? A Dawnshard perhaps? I know that he followed the humans there, but why? How did he think things would go? Show up, take out not one, but two shards, and then walk away unscathed? He is the god of hatred, not arrogance.

I've read before that some of the cities on Roshar might seem to have Aons in their layout, such as Thaylen City (though this is unsure and could just be cymatics). Upon my re-read of Dawnshard, Lopen is surveying the city of Akinah from above and notices that it looks like "a flower with radiating petals" and "groups of [the houses] formed the 'tips' of the flower petals.". I checked coppermind for Aons and immediately one fit the description: Aon Aan, which stands for Truth or Fact, a curious choice for a place so shrouded in secrets. https://coppermind.net/w/images/Aon_Aan.svg Though it could just be coincidence, I thought this was a cool connection if it is the case. What do you think? Also, do you know of any other cities that might have aon connections?

Let me preface this by saying that I am asking a question related to how the magic works. I don't want to bring up the intensely hot morality debate around this subject. Could Stormlight positively or negatively affect the child in the womb of a pregnant woman? We know that the person's image of their body is important to healing (see the Reshi monarch and Rysn). It makes me wonder how it apply in that situation. Like, could a woman imagining her child as healthy fix a child's a cleft palate? Or could a woman terminate early by healing while not imagining herself pregnant?

Before RoW came, @Kinolee made this theory trying make group of four Shards tied to the same Dawnshard, I didn't see a new version after the revelations of RoW so I'm making one First, I'd like to start with this WoB From the difference in shape of the mural compared to the chart, it's likely the internal/external differentiation won't be present. It's possible the pushing/pulling one would be absent too but it's almost certain the four quadrant division will indeed be there. Since we cannot really separate Shards in four Dawnshard if we only know one of them, I'll do the same supposition as Kinolee did and assume Unite and Survive are two Dawnshards. Brandon had talked about a shard who decided to just hide and survive, it's possible it's Invention since he's currently hiding from Harmony but I'll assume he's not. Brandon once accidentally name-drop that a Shard was called "Ingenuity" I think Brandon ended up changing its name to Invention and I won't try to find it a Dawnshard. For the rest of this theory, I will call the Shards linked to a Dawnshard its "aspects" and I'll call the Shard in Hiding Tsih. Change Ruin: destruction, change toward maximal entropy. Cultivation: small nudge to the world so it become how you want it to be. Whimsy: changes for the sake of changing The shard we know nothing about. There could be a call to put Endowment here as "give to other so they change" but this is already included in Cultivation's small nudge. I mean, it's kind of like sowing thing in people. Unite Honour: I'm not even sure I need to argument here. I mean one the Radiants orders have unity as their endgame and prior to RoW half of use assumed Unity was either Honour+Odium or Honour+Odium+Cultivation Dominion, sometime called Conquest: Unite under one's rule Devotion, sometime called Love: Unite for a common cause. Odium. Yes, hate unites, it unite against someone or something, but it still unites. Another reason I put it here is the Shards Odium killed, you have Ambition -that even Endowment considered a problem while she sees neither the embodiment of hatred nor the embodiment of conquest as problems- and three aspects of Unity; which makes me believe he was specifically going after aspect of Unity, probably because it's easier too fuse two aspects of the same Dawnshard and he's himself an aspect of Unity. Survive Preservation: Kind of goes without saying. Mercy: letting the other live Autonomy: ability to survive on your own Tsih Something in the line of "Leave a Mark" Ambition: The will to leave a mark on the world Invention: Leave a mark on knowledge/technology Endowment: Leave a mark on other. I kind of see Endowment as that old woman who give a legendary weapon to the hero so they can beat the big bad, nobody will know about her but in way it's because of her the world is safe Valour: This one is a bit trickier, I feel like she belong here but I don't find a way to explaining it in a way that wouldn't suit Ambition better. So. What do you think of this classification? Do you have a better name for the fourth Dawnshard?

so we know Rysn has a dawnshard of change, so what about the others? did Kelsier get a survival dawnshard? when he went into the well of ascension? is that how he survived? what if cognitive shadows are dawn shards?

Will Yalb meet Shallan again? If so, will this introduce the now Dawnshard infused Rysn to the Knights Radiant and Dalinar? Since Dalinar is a Bondsmith, would it be possible for him to Connect with the Dawnshard somehow? What would happen if they did Connect? Could they, combined, defeat Odium? I personally don't think so, but who knows what the Shard is capable of.

so Taravangian knew about sleepless, he had sleepless on his side, working for him like Kandra, or are they Kandra just the Rosharan form.

So let me start with this. The dawnshard that is different from the rest is likely the one Hoid held (which was a topaz) and that is now dead. so we know Hoid held the name topaz because of him being the bearer of the first gem, which was a topaz. from the coppermind: And we know that title is linked to him being a dawnshard from this WoB: and we know that the topaz is now “dead” from this letter that frost sent: From all that, it is easy to connect some dots. Now that we have that out of the way, Have we seen the Topaz? The Dawnshard? Not just in the stormlight archive, but in any of the Cosmere. A reference to a strange orange gem or a magical stone? Where is the Dawnshard?

Closing up the bar on my phone and this thought occurred to me: Hoid, in the epigraphs of Stormlight, asks Frost how he’s enjoying his new found immortality. This is odd because we know from wobs that dragons by nature are functionally immortal. I propose that Frost was in possession of the Dawnshard opposite from hoid’s. Perhaps even the Change Dawnshard, which was somehow counteracting his natural immortality. So he gives up said Dawnshard which causes Hoid to congratulate him on no longer aging. This is also kinda backed up by the fact that the only people who were involved with the shattering that we are aware of became Dawnshards or Shards and we know Frost was involved. And we know that whatever Dawnshard Hoid had made him immortal amongst other things.

While reading Dawnshard, I couldn't help but notice parallels with concepts in Scripture. I wonder even if those concepts are what inspired Brandon. Maybe. Maybe not. But if so, if we digest the concepts from the biblical text, that could potentially help us understand what the Dawnshard is and maybe even where the whole Cosmere narrative is going. Rather than explaining too much of my thoughts on how they relate, I'd like to hear yours. The first concept to grasp is that the Hebrew word for Spirit is Ruah (or Ruach) which is also translated as breath - or breath that gives life. The Holy Spirit (which is often just called the Spirit) in Hebrew is Ruach HaKodesh which basically means the life-giving breath of the Holy One. Now that that's out of the way, check out these passages and see if you can tell how they might relate to the Dawnshard and the Cosmere as a whole. John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Ephesians 6:17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.(notice here the connection between the Word and the Spirit and it's offensive ability) Genesis 1:1-3 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. (God's Word = Creative Power) (the Spirit hovered over the waters, apparently waiting to act - to become the power behind the Word or the Power that IS the Word) Jesus Praying to the Father in John 17:8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. (WHAAAATTTT!!!!!!!) John 17:14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. John 17:22-23 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: (power of change, of bringing things back to how they were meant to be) Concerning the Shattering of Adonalsium??: Track with me here - this one's a little harder to grasp. 1 Corinthians 12:12-14 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. (What if the will of Adonalsium was to be broken in order to give us parts of himself that we might then reconcile together to reform him but be now many and yet One?) Romans 8:29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many Revelation 13:8 speaks of the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world and it is reiterated here: 1 Peter 1:18-20 or you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Isaiah 53:10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

Just a small observation I noticed while reading some theories the last few days: the Sleepless seem to know that Dalinar is going to destroy them by choosing honor. They say as much. How would they have any idea that his choice will affect them long term? And another note, how do they know who to watch? Like we have confirmation that they write the backs of the books, how did they know to watch Kaladin, Shallan, and Dalinar? I personallly doubt that they can breed a hordling with the abilty to tap fortune, or one that can access a simular effect of atium. So is their knowledge coming from "Old Prophecies" or are they just so incredibly long lived that they can deduce patterns from what is occuring? IMO the former is more likely than the latter, as they were foolish enough to let a women who cannot even walk, get close enough to the Dawnshard to absorb it. I'd like to hear some of your opinons on how Sleepless are able to confidently predict future events.

Let's talk about The Shattering of Adonalsium. (bit of a long post, I know, but trust me). Now, we can all agree that the Shattering is A Big Deal™ by Cosmere standards, and we've all been dying to get any tidbits as to the how's and why's of such a monumental event. Storms, we barely know the where's and who's! Most we can say is it happened A Long Time ago, in Yolen, and maybe Uncle Andy went along with it? That is why whenever Hoid or Khriss or whoever makes a reference to the Shattering, we pay VERY close attention! We are desperate to know what it looked like, why it happened, how it went about, what everyone in the Cosmere felt, and a million other things. We would love nothing more than a first-hand account of Adonalsium's death. But you know what Brandon gave us instead? Not a recollection of events by a scholar, not exposition by one of the Shards, not the how's or why's or the answer to any of those questions; no, instead of telling us how it looked or sounded or came about, Brandon showed us how the Shattering felt. From Dawnshard, ch. 16: Now I don't know about you folks but to me it seems that the first ever look we get at the Shattering, the first POV from the death of Adonalsium, is in the form of emotions. Those are the emotions that Adonalsium itself felt at the moment of its death. And how amazing is that?! For such a foundational event for the entirety of the Cosmere, we don't get something "normal" like 'Hoid remembered that fatal day, when everything ended' or some "regular" storytelling like that! Any other saga based on such an event would have just released a prequel featuring the Shattering. But instead, we get to experience firsthand what the Shattering felt like. We learn not what was said, nor the details of what transpired, but the feelings of God's death from millenia ago. And that, dear Sharders ,is the most original thing Brandon has ever written. Thanks you for coming to my TED talk.

So Vasher and Shashara came to Roshar to learn how to make an Endowment analogue of Shardblades. They return to Nalthis, and create the absurdly powerful and destructive Nightblood. This made me wonder, why is Nightblood so powerful. 1000 breaths is a lot of investiture, but is it comparable to Honor’s perpendicularity or that vessel he murdered (don’t know how to do spoiler tags, and I don’t want to ruin it for anyone). I didn’t think so, and it made me think maybe Vasher and Shashara took a Dawnshard and gave it to Nightblood, which would explain how he is so powerful. Kaladin also has some over the top feats as well. He was able to deflect a highstorm, fight two shardbearers on even ground; unarmored and lacking a shard blade. He is the only character (aside from Dalinar - but he has been bonding to a super-spren, partial shard, I have no idea what the storm father is) who is describe as having preternatural combat abilities. And I mean this in terms of pure combat abilities and not incorporating the surges into fighting styles. When he saves Adolin, he is basically fighting two shardbearers with his eyes closed. He completely outclasses Szeth in WoR. He defends a bridge, by himself against an entire squad of Parshendi. Every time this happens his inner monologue describes him as the wind, you cannot stop the wind, etc. No other wind runner is described this way either. Teft was arguably closer to the 4th ideal in RoW, and he needed to be treated by lift to stay awake, so it wasn’t because of that. Maybe Kaladin has a Dawnshard about Protect/Defend/something along those lines, one that Tanavast also had before the shattering. Maybe that is why he is called the “Son of Tanavast” so much. Maybe that is why Vyre said Kaladin was basically a force of nature. Maybe the poem: “Taking the Dawnshard, known to bind any creature voidish or mortal, he crawled up the steps crafted for Heralds, ten strides tall apiece, toward the grand temple above.” Is about Kaladin.

So I assume that every theory I come up with, someone on this site already had in like 2007, and it was disproven by 2008 That being said... here goes. A long time ago, the planet Yolen was home to Humans, Dragons, Sho Del, and a being called Adonalsium. The sixteen cornered Adonalsium and Shattered him. The sixteen, newly Ascended, each went their separate ways. Most went to their own Shardworlds. Some, like Bavadin, went to a sun. At least one just went somewhere in space. A few went two-at-a-time to a planet - like Aona and Skai on Sel - despite having bound themselves not to do that. Some used the powers of the Shards to make their own worlds, like Scadrial. (Aside: I wonder if Ati and Leras made their planet just to avoid some specificity of the language of their oath not to settle on the same planet. Which explains why Odium And Friends weren't able to kill and splinter them as easily as they did - even when their own fighting left them both preposterously weakened. Imagine if Ati and Leras were lovers or best friends, and the opposing nature of their Shards drove them to such enmity. All for their hubris. What a tragedy that would be.) Rayse - Odium - went off to his own Shardworld. This was not Braize - he would not end up there until much later. This planet was probably in its own solar system where Rayse could be a God unquestioned. Two Shards, however, decided not to leave. They would stay on Yolen together. These shards were Mr. and Mrs. Avast - Koravellium and Tan - the shards of Cultivation and Honor. When Rayse went to his planet, he took a group of humans with him. But he did not take every human off of Yolen. Many stayed with Cultivation and Honor. As did many dragons - Cultivation's species - and many Sho Del. We don't know much about the Sho Del. But they, and their ecosystem, was in conflict with the humans and their ecosystem. If Honor had stayed on Yolen alone, he would have established firm rules that allowed the two ecosystems to live side by side. If Odium had stayed on Yolen, he would have pitted them against each other until the stronger survived and the weaker died. But, true to her Shardic intent, Cultivation offered a compromise. She would let the two species grow together into one. The same will that would one day lead to the creation of the Sibling and its mixed light, spread across Yolen and all its people. Sho Del and humans could come together and create one species to live in harmony. The human and Sho Del ecosystems were also intermixed, creating wholly new hybrid species at every level. It is possible that some elements of each ecosystem were kept unchanged. Whether to act as a control group (like the South Scadrians), or through xenophobia, or just to preserve diversity, I cant say. This is related to one of the few pieces of Yolish trivia we have: that a common saying there was "May two worlds become one to you." Perhaps this is the same as many people on Earth say a variation of "may peace be with you" - because thanks to the intervention of the Shards, the conflict between these two ecosystems was ended by their merging. On Yolen, "two worlds becoming one" was literally synonymous with peace. And there was peace. Until there was Odium. Odium's planet was originally populated by humans who followed him from Yolen. As best as we know, those people destroyed their planet. They tried to manipulate the fundamental Surges, using even the Dawnshards, and in the end it was too much for them. They delved too deep, in the Moria sense; they opened the Bore, in the Collam Daan sense. This is a facially probably story. I mean, storms, look at what Rashek did - and he didn't have a Dawnshard - and he was fueled by an intent to Preserve! Yet still, I question the historicity of this account which blames humans. I rather expect that it was Odium who was trying to use the Dawnshards to do things that even his Shardic power did not allow him to do - such as change the fundamental rules of the universe. He failed. In his failure he destroyed his planet - maybe even his entire system. He needed help. He reached out to other Shards, who mostly told him to go pound sand - they knew what he had done to Aona and Skai and Uli Da. But when he reached out to Koravellium and Tan, they were willing to listen to him. In part because there were two of them and only one of him and they felt they could control him. In part because they felt sympathy for Odium's desperate humans - Cultivation to protect life, Honor to support a ruler's obligations to his people. (This leads me to another theory about what happened on Odium's planet - which is that he intentionally destroyed it, in order to create a situation whereby he could con Honor and Cultivation into helping him. It doesn't really matter - Honor is dead, and Rayse is too.) There were probably other factors at work. Perhaps Odium had something which Honor and Cultivation wanted: the ability to forgive them for breaking their word and choosing to reside on the same planet together. Perhaps he had something else they wanted: a Dawnshard. Perhaps they had a Bondsmith and so they felt they could create a pact which would protect them. Perhaps all three. In the end, they offered Odium a deal. He could return his people to Yolen. They wouldn't be too much of a bother - hell, if Honor and Cultivation had managed to find peace between the humans and Sho Del, dealing with just a few more humans would be easy. They would take these refugees. But in exchange, Odium would have to agree to restrictions, for Honor and Cultivation's safety. He would have to agree to be bound on a barren planet next to Yolen and would only observe and interact with his people through intermediaries. Odium agreed. Odium's planet was brought to the Yolish system. I expect this was done for practical logistical reasons, such as because Odium's people did not have enough idea of the Cosmere to find Yolen in the Cognitive Realm. While they were about it, they brought in a second planet, one just as barren, which would serve as Odium's prison. Suddenly Yolen went from being the only major planet in its system, to one of three. The other two were the planet that Odium's people came over on, and the planet on which Odium now resided. These were positioned to either side of Yolen so that visual astronomy, and therefore travel in Shadesmar, would be possible. This might have made it easier to get the humans from their planet to Yolen - but it would have been necessary for Odium's intermediaries to continue leading and viewing the people to whom he was a God. It is quite possible that Yolen's orbit was altered slightly, so that both of its two new planets would be visible to the naked eyes of its inhabitants. Unfortunately things did not go exactly as planned. Whether by natural occurence, or by Odium's influence - and of course I am disposed to expect the latter - the human/Sho Del hybrid race on Yolen began to worship Odium. By a turn, the humans that came with Odium began to ally themselves with Honor. This lead to a conflict between the two that threatened to be just as terrible as the ancient conflict between the humans and Sho Del. Cultivation attempted to solve this conflict the way she had solved the last one, by creating a hybrid species between the hybrid race and the humans. This did not work. In the end, Honor returned to Odium and offered him a new bargain: the Oathpact. Odium already had his ten intermediaries who could move between his prison-planet and Yolen. These ten humans... perhaps they switched loyalties to Honor, just as the human/Sho Del hybrid race had switched loyalties to Odium. Or perhaps something even more sinister is going on here. I can hardly speculate. This resulted in the Desolations, the death and splintering of Honor, and the modern history of Yolen as recorded in the Stormlight Archive. This is because my theory is that Yolen and Roshar are one and the same. The world we know as Roshar was once known as Yolen. The physical evidence has mostly been subsumed under crem. The memory of Yolen has mostly been subsumed under the eons, aided by the Desolations. That is why the location of Yolen is not known to (say) Silverlight - but rather than calling it 'unknown' or 'lost,' Khriss refers to it only as 'shrouded.' Its shroud is that it is known by the world which replaced it. It is hiding in plain sight. I do not know whether the Sho Del continue to exist, on Yolen or anywhere else. I don't see any evidence that unmixed humans remained on Roshar - or dragons, for that matter - so it seems unlikely that unmixed Sho Del persisted either. It is possible that they dwell in the oceans of what we now call Roshar. The Tai-Na could be the original Sho-Del - but I expect they are more likely to be a cross between the human Giant Turtle and a Sho Del equivalent. However, you can see much of the Sho Del ecosystem remaining in the rockbud-and-cremling ecosystem of modern Roshar. Perhaps this is the Sho Del ecosystem as it once existed - the equivalent of what in Dragonsteel Prime was called the fain. I expect that the Rosharan ecosystem is a hybrid between the Sho Del and human. Human dogs and their Sho Del equivalent were mixed to create axehounds; crabs and bulls were mixed to create chulls (a straightforward portmanteau of the words "crab" and "bull"). It may even be that the word for the human-Sho Del hybrid is a portmanteau indicating its origins. Part Sho Del, Part Human: Parshendi. The Parshendi are the Sho Del/human hybrids that were created by Honor and Cultivation to be the sole inhabitants of Yolen from the Shattering onwards. They were the sole - or at least, the primary - inhabitants, until Odium returned with his desparate band of humans. These humans were given Shinovar, which became a refuge for both the descendants of the humans of Yolen and their customs. I expect the Shin reverence for stone derives from the Yolish period, as a practice that resulted from humanity's conflict with the fain, whereby clean stone was kept in rings around towns so that moss, a sign of the advancing fain ecosystem, could be noticed as soon as possible. As with much in Sanderson's work, reasonable practices of survival and culture were eventually transformed into religion, disconntected from its original reason for being. It began on Yolen, was removed from its original context when brought to Odium's planet, and by freak happenstance ended up back on Yolen - a Yolen so changed that it was just as irrelevant, and yet, like so much of culture, persisted. The planet known to Vorinism as the Tranquiline Halls is what is known to Rosharan astronomers as Ashyn. What is not commonly understood is that the planet Ashyn is not native to the Rosharan system. Neither is Braize. When Odium destroyed his own system, Ashyn and Braize were brought to the Yolish system. Ashyn was brought to facilitate the transfer of its people to refuge in what is now known as Shinovar. Braize was brought to be a prison planet for Odium: Damnation. In subsequent years, we have seen interbreeding between the human/Sho Del mix known as the Parshendi, and unmixed humans. This can be seen in such human genetic groups as the Unalaki and Herdazians, wherein the human genetics are more and most dominant respectively. Perhaps this was forced by Cultivation in an attempt to recreate her solution to the human/Sho Del conflict of eons before. Or perhaps it is a pure happenstance, resulting from the Parshendi being half human - enough, it seems, to interbreed. We have seen similar levels of genetic expression as to another species: the Siah Aimians and the Natan. This makes me wonder whether the Siah are a nonhuman species and the Natan a new mixed-genetics species, or whether the Siah are a mixture like the Parshendi, and the Natan a point between the equal mixture and full human rather like the Unalaki or Herdazian. Because of his partial shapeshifting ability but humanoid appearance, it would not surprise me to learn that Axies the Collector, and his fellow Siah Aimians, are a hybrid between human and the other species of Yolen, the dragons. The Natan people are the result of breeding between this half-human hybrid and pure humans - the descendants of those who left Yolen with Odium, and then returned from Ashyn. As the Parshendi are to humans and Sho Del, the Siah are to humans and dragons. Perhaps there is even a mixed dragon/Sho Del species - I would suspect the larkin, like Chiri-Chiri. One related possibility is that the planet Yolen was moved somewhat in space, like Scadrial was. This may have been done in order to better accomodate the sudden arrival of two new planets in its system. Or it may heve been done before that, by Shards trying to create an ideal habitat for its combination human-Sho Del ecosystem. In either event, it seems like it required a little tweaking - much like Rashek giving the North Scadrians adaptation to ash and its effects. Perhaps throgh magical evolution, perhaps through the hand of the Shards, some animals of this new ecosystem were bonded to various nonsapient manifestations of investiture in the Cognitive Realm - what modern Rosharans would call the spren of Shadesmar. This can be seen in greatshells who bond to luckspren, or in Rhyshadium who bond to musicspren - probably the result of horses who left Yolen and returned later from Ashyn. (Fans of the Giants series might see reflections of Minerva in this theory.) One derivative theory might be of interest. How did the humans get from Ashyn to Yolen? They could have crossed through Shadesmar. I have a hunch that they crossed through the physical realm. I bet that Ishar, whether or not using a Dawnshard, created a physical portal between Ashyn and Roshar - a kind of super Oathgate, the Gotthard Base Tunnel or Danyang–Kunshan Bridge of Oathgates. I base this on only one thing: crem. We know that crem was not always part of the Highstorm cycle. Perhaps it was created by Cultivation in order to provide an environment that would be adaptable to her new hybrid ecosystem. That is perhaps the most likely explanation. But another is that a physical gate was opened between Ashyn and Yolen/Roshar and was never closed. This maybe by intention, or by Odium's trickery (maybe their pact said "it will close as soon as the last person crosses," and yet one billion-ass-year-old person remains on Ashyn, thus keeping the portal open.) This portal is located at the Origin. Because Ashyn has been rather destroyed, its shredded topsoil keeps getting blown through the gate. It gets spit out onto Roshar, where the Highstorms then carry it across the world. This would explain why the crem cycle only began so relatively recently in the life of the planet. It would also mean that, at every Highstorm, anyone on Roshar could look up and say "Ashyn fell from the sky." A final point is that this implies that Adonalsium was shattered on what we now know as Roshar. I expect this is likely from evidence we have of modern Roshar. The Shattering caused a release of energy so great that its seismic effects can still be seen in the form of the Shattered Plains. Yes, indeed, Adonalsium was Shattered in Plain sight. The only reason the Shattered Plains are still visible is that their deep crevices drain away the crem from the Highstorms - otherwise they would have been turned into a simple field long ago, the site of the Shattering forgotten. It would not surprise me to learn that some of the great features of Roshar were created through cymatics back when the world was still known as Yolen. This could have been through the deific music of Adonalsium. It could have been through the non-shardic "gods" of Yolen before the Shattering as referenced in WoB. Or perhaps it was simply as a result *of* the Shattering. That great release of Investiture carried with it the rhythms, the pulses, of that investiture, which were so great that they created structures such as the Windblades in an instant. In any event, I expect it shall be seen that such features of ancient Roshar are in fact relics, not of an older Roshar, but of Yolen. (Woolheads might say that Urithiru is Rhuidean, but things like the Windblades are straight up Paaran Disen.) Finally, it may well suggest that Frost has been on Roshar this whole time. Perhaps we've seen him already. Or perhaps he's a Sleepless who is also a Kandra, okay I'm tired I'm a stop now. Thanks for reading. Hope you all went long on tinfoil stonks.

*TInfoil hat on* According to the ars arcanum in RoW microkinesis, or Stoneshaping, was present on Yolen with more destructive abilities: So there are now two Surgebinding abilities on Roshar that also was present on Yolen. The second one being Lightweaving which is something Hoid already is able to do. According to a WoB microkinesis is not capable of splitting atoms however Brandon also says that it was capable of doing that in his original dragonsteel books. So what leads me to believe Hoid has been a stoneward? For a while Hoid was going under the name `Topaz` in reference to him being the bearer of the first gem. Topaz is also the gem associated with stonewards. Now this doesn't really make a strong point and could just be coincidence. However in chapter 68 in OB when Shallan and Hoid is talking he mentions this: This is also the subtitle given to the Stonewards in the quiz about the ten orders. However he says `vow` and not instead of `oath` but that could be Brandon making sure he doesn't set off our cosmere alarms too easily. *Second tinfoil hat on*

If this seems like a repeat of someone else's post, please let me know. I am new here and couldn't find anything on this topic. I believe that the Shards we know and (sometimes) love mostly represent the Spiritual part of Adonalsium, while the Dawnshards mostly represent its Cognitive aspect. The only thing missing would be a representation of Adonalsium's Physical aspect. I say mostly for both cases because it is clear that the Shards contain at least a partial Cognitive aspect in the case of their intent and their understanding of their power, and the Dawnshard has a Spiritual aspect that granted Rysn heightening-like effects. The Shards have been described as infinite in the Spiritual Realm, but only have a limited scope for actually cognitively noticing things. An example of this can be seen in the Sja-Anat interlude, where she distracts Odium by sending Touched Windspren to make him ignore the Touched Radiant Spren who was heading to Urithiru. Both Rysn and Nikli describe the Dawnshard as "being inside her mind" and she experienced thoughts that were not her own when she approached the mural that contained it. They are described as "Commands... The will of a god." It was also mentioned that Rysn would not be able to use its power. I believe that she cannot use the power because she had not had any abilities prior to becoming the Dawnshard, and thus cannot direct its Command on any of her own investiture. If what I think is accurate, than what is missing would be a physical representation of Adonalsium. Each Shard has different physical manifestations in each state. The "Body of Ruin" was the cache of Atium that the Kandra kept. So would Adonalsium have left a god metal? I do not even have the slightest clue what it might be, or what its unique properties would be. I just believe that there would be one.

So, I was reading through some sections of Rhythm of War and I must say the swearing of the 4th ideal was a beautiful scene. However, I am left with a question regarding the ideals of the order of windrunners. The first ideal of the order seems fairly straightforward (and as of now I have not seen any variation), in turn the 4th seems to be acceptance and forgiveness of one's failings. However, the third ideal to me seems a touch elusive given the amount of variation we have seen. For context or a refresher I will put some quotes from the coppermind below.

So we knew the center-a central circle that breaks into 16 pieces, representing Adonalsium and the shattering. We now know that the four outstretching curves likely represent the dawnshards. Now, there is two pieces left of the symbol. There is the circle and the diamond that encircles the Adonalsun(Tm). What might those be?

Given that the mural shows something be broken into 4 pieces with each piece being further divided into 4. I wonder if that is how the shattering occurred. Adonalsium was first broken into 4 pieces (mesoshards), and then those 4 pieces were further broken into 4 more pieces (shards). This would have the implication that each of the 16 shards can be associated with 2 dawnshards, the dawnshard that broke off the piece of adonalsium to form a mesoshard, and the dawnshard that broke off the piece of the mesoshard to form the shard.. This might be a useful avenue to explore the identity of the shards and the identity of the dawnshards. So what about Unity. There has been some theorizing about who Unity is. What if Unity was one of the 4 mesoshards that was then broken into the existing shards. It could be that the shattering took place in stages. That Unity was taken up, and then killed. There are even some rather obvious shards that might derived from the Unity mesoshard: Dominion, Devotion, and Honor. I'm not sure what the fourth shard would be. I do find it interesting that Odium has shattered these particular shards. For whatever reason Odium would take particular action against the Unity shards, it must be quite a shock to see Dalinar seemingly pulling it back together.

Rayse has killed 4 vessels at this point, and does not seem to have overt support from other Shards in doing so. I was thinking about a wob where Brandon was asked about if Autonomy assisted Odium in his attack on Dominion & Devotion and says The idea that Autonomy's assistance was what allowed Odium to win a 2 v 1 contest has never seemed satisfying to me, as even a 2 v 2 does not seem like a certain thing... When combined with the fact that Hoid asks an Avatar of Autonomy for help with Odium (which would seem silly if they'd overtly worked together in the past) it seems that Odium would needed some other (stronger) advantage to ensure victory. A Dawnshard seems to fit that description. I've also wondered why Honor implies things are (nearly?) hopeless in the fight against Odium without the Dawnshards even though Cultivation is still around. However, if Odium has/is/holds a Dawnshard, then it seems more reasonable that the only way that Honor could 'win' would be by tricking/trapping Odium in the Rosharan system, as a direct fight against a Shard+Dawnshard was not something he felt even Honor and Cultivation together could take on. As there is not a large amount of evidence for this theory (some would say none), I'll try to argue against it: If there are only 4 Dawnshards (it seems there could be 16?) then there are 2 (or 3 if Dalinar is/holds a Dawnshard) of the 4 in the Rosharan system, which seems like a lot. We also don't see anything that jumps out at me in the letters to/from Hoid that suggests to me that Odium is MORE powerful than other Shards. Everyone wants him contained because of what he has done, but not specifically because he's more powerful than anyone else. Additionally, Brandon has said that Rayse won't pick up another Shard because he doesn't want to change and Brandon also says that Dawnshards change your spirit (though who knows how this would work with a Vessel). All in all, I'd say that Rayse having/holding/being a Dawnshard makes more sense than him not, but we know so little about Odium's battles with other Shards that the questions posed could be answered in any number of ways. I'm interested to hear some thoughts if you have them, or if anyone has any of that pesky evidence it's so hard to come by (for or against of course) I'd love to hear about it!

This theory has been bouncing around in my head for a few weeks now, mostly revolving around Nikli's insistence that Rysn never become a Radiant and Honor's belief that the Dawnshards are lost to the Knights Radiant. Quotes from Honor: Assuming that the Dawnshard is mostly nonfunctional in a non-invested host, we have to wonder why the Sleepless didn't want Rysn to access that power and why Honor thought that the power of the Dawnshard was impossible for the Radiants to reach or more dangerous than Odium winning. There are lots of reasons I can think of that the Sleepless wouldn't want Rysn to gain power of the Dawnshard-- their mission goes beyond one planet and I could see Rysn's lack of power an acceptable loss. Honor is a little bit harder. I've seen people interpret the quote from Oathbringer as simply not trusting the Knights Radiant, but that doesn't make much sense to me. Why would he support them for years and then in his death throes suddenly flip and decide that the danger of them getting a Dawnshard was greater than the danger of Odium winning? The other quote complicates that further since he isn't talking about the danger of Dawnshards, but suggesting that the Dawnshards are beyond their reach. From the information we have, I can see two options: Either Honor's knowledge about the Dawnshards and the KR changed, or something about the Dawnshards themselves changed. If Honor didn't know where the Dawnshard was and thought it was no longer on-world, it could make sense that he believes the Dawnshards are lost to them, but it wouldn't explain why he was convinced that the KR would destroy Roshar with one. Since he already knew that the Dawnshard destroyed Adonalsium and Ashyn, it's hard to believe that there was some bit of knowledge about the Dawnshard's capabilities that would suddenly bump them up to "too dangerous." It is possible that something changed about the KR leading up to this, but there's no indication as to what. We know that they abandoned their Oaths believing it was the right thing to do, so it wasn't like they were corrupted or less honorable. In contrast, it is possible that something changed about the Dawnshard, and Odium's interference seems like the most likely reason. I find it less likely that he corrupted the Dawnshard itself, knowing how powerful it is, and more likely that he somehow set things up so that using the Dawnshard would trigger something Very Bad. [Rhythm of War Spoilers] This would explain Honor's sudden belief that the KR couldn't be trusted to use the Dawnshard without destroying Roshar and his statement that without the Dawnshards he had very few tools to help them. It would also give the Sleepless a further reason to not want Rysn or anyone else to have the power to wield the Dawnshard (although they might not even be aware of the trap). I don't think there's enough evidence to say that this is what happened, but a paucity of other explanations for Honor's behavior makes it seem like a strong possibilty. Any other thoughts on possible explanations? Any evidence I've forgotten that contradicts this?

So the Dawnshard novella just recently came out and it had some seriously juicy lore tidbits for all of us to chew on. I'm going to be putting my interpretation of it here along with what I think is a probable timeline of events involving the Dawnshards. Nature of the Dawnshards So Adonalsium gave four primal Commands that spawned the Dawnshards and created the Cosmere. We know that one of them is Change and that together all four were used to Shatter God himself. I'm thinking these Commands are similar to the Christian notion of "Let there be light" while the resulting Dawnshards are a sort of imprint on the world left by the Commands. If God turning on the lights was a boot, the Dawnshard is a boot print. I believe these four Commands were Change, Survive, Unite and Distinguish. I don't know if these are the actual names of the Dawnshards (I would be surprised if Distinguish was 100% correct) but the gist of it remains the same. These four are two sets of two that, while not exactly opposite, are in some respects opposed. None are negative or positive, they simply are. Change and Survive are opposed as survival requires a certain amount of stasis. Unite and Distinguish are opposed as Distinguish implies individuality and unity implies a certain common ground. The Shattering of Adonalsium I believe that at one point they were all combined into a single weapon that was used to Shatter Adonalsium and that Hoid was the one who actually holding the thing when it all went down, as is referenced by Hoid being both "Topaz" as well as the "Bearer of the First Gem" as well as the WoB's that we have stating that the weapon used to kill Adonalsium is drained and inoperable and that Hoid's immortality is derived from it. It's drained because the Dawnshards were removed from it and Hoid's immortality comes from Survive. From Nikli's line in the novella we know that wielding a Dawnshard makes "Demands on a level that no person could ever manage alone..." Thus I believe that while Hoid was the one actually pulling the trigger, there was another group bracing and bolstering him, probably a group of 16, aka the Shardic Vessels. Think the ending scene from Guardians of the Galaxy. Starlord got his hands on the Infinity Stone but he couldn't use it until they all united their strength by using the secret move "Power of Friendship" :). I think that's what happened here only more premeditated God-murder and less dance off. Scattering of the Dawnshards My next bit of wild speculation is that I believe that when Adonalsium was Shattered, the Dawnshards contained in the weapon were scattered to four of the Vessels. Which Vessels got chosen probably had to deal with the specific theme of each Shard of Adonalsium. Cultivation and Ruin, for instance, both fit squarely in the Change quadrant. Here's how I think the Shards fall into the quadrants. Change - Ruin, Cultivation, Endowment Survive - Preservation Unite - Honor, Devotion, Dominion Distinguish - Odium, Autonomy, Ambition Ruin is Change through destruction. Cultivation is Change through improvement. Endowment is Change through transfer. Preservation is Survival through stasis. Honor is Unity through shared ethics. Devotion is Unity through love. Dominion is Unity through law and government. Distinguish is all about individuality (which is why I was having trouble with the word Distinguish. Individuality is not a verb!!!). This would mean the Odium is individuality through emotion, Autonomy is individuality through isolation and Ambition is individuality through accomplishment. I believe that Hoid either got the Survive Dawnshard or had it before the Shattering and the it somehow ended up with Preservation after everything was said and done. It is currently hidden on Scadrial somewhere. Honor got the Unity Dawnshard and took it with him to Roshar. I'm not sure who ended up with the Change Dawnshard but they must have given it up or had it taken from them somehow, probably the former, and it was then carried to Roshar and hidden in the cavern in Akinah. This leaves Distinguish, which I believe fell into Autonomy's hands. It's use might explain her weird avatar situation, granting herself an excess of individuality. She gave it to Odium to use in killing Devotion, Dominion and Ambition. This is how he wiped the floor with them without breaking a sweat, even in a two on one fight. This is also probably why Brandon was cagey about whether Bavadin helped Odium splinter D&D. She didn't really help commit the murder, she just handed the murderer a gun at some point. Dawnshard Battle on Roshar After Odium got done taking out D&D and Ambition, he set his sights on Honor and Cultivation. Big problem here though. Honor had a Dawnshard. I don't think he was actively using it though. It's my guess that there was some sort of agreement among the Vessels to not wield both a Shard and a Dawnshard at once. It would upset the balance of power too much. This is why Survive is being stored away on Scadrial, why Change was sort of floating around until it ended up in Aimia and why Honor was letting Ishar hang on to Unite, which he used to bind the surgebinders with oaths and create the Oathpact. But Odium broke the rules and so Honor took his Unite Dawnshard back to kick some butt. The problem for Honor was that Odium is just insanely more practiced and skilled in Shard on Shard combat at this point and was just more skilled with using a Dawnshard in general. Sure they both had guns but one has a seasoned fighter and the other was an amateur. Regardless Honor was enough of a threat with his Dawnshard that Odium had to take things slow and be cautious. This is also probably why Cultivation stayed out of this for the most part. She wasn't armed. Eventually Odium gets the upper hand and slips in a killing blow but Honor leaves his cognitive shadow, along with the Dawnshard that it's carrying, behind and has it fuse with the Stormfather. This now means that any Bondsmith that bonds to the Stormfather now has access to a Dawnshard as well as the Shard of Honor relative to how closely bonded they are with the Stormfather. The more oaths they say, the closer they get to becoming the Vessel of Honor and attaining the full power of the Dawnshard of Unity. This is probably how Melishi was able to bind the Singers into slaveform. This is probably also how Dalinar is able to Unite the realms. It also occurs to me that this might be a good explanation for why the Recreance happened. Honor was dying and as he was dying he gave his Dawnshard to the Bondsmiths. Since the Dawnshard was presumably what destroyed Ashyn people might have been worried about misusing that power. It would be like the President showing up to your house one day at random, mortally wounded, screamed something about the end of the world and gave you the nuclear launch codes before dying on your couch. Anybody would be freaked out, let alone the descendants of the people who once blew up a planet. They then immediately have their fears validated when Melishi, the new Dawnshard of Unity, uses his newfound power to lobotomize an entire sapient species. Yeah, I can see why they were concerned. Future of the Dawnshards It is my current opinion that at some point in a future book, Dalinar will say his fifth oath and bond fully to the Stormfather. This will cause him to ascend to become the Vessel of Honor and also grant him full access to the Unity Dawnshard. This time however the fight against Odium will go differently because Odium won't be facing kind old Tanavast. He'll be facing the Blackthorn. At that point Dalinar either keeps the Dawnshard or gives it up, either one seems plausible. The Change Dawnshard stays with Rysn for now but that could change in the future depending on how things play out. The Survive Dawnshard is probably being held by Kelsier currently, both because Kelsier is probably the most realmatically aware Scadrian, and thus probably knows all about Dawnshards and realizes that one is on Scadrial, but also because it fits thematically. Kelsier The Survivor, who fought gods and won, gets a god slaying weapon called Survive? It's freaking perfect. I honestly don't know what happens to the Distinguish Dawnshard. It honestly comes down to how the fight with Odium actually plays out. I doubt it can ever be truly destroyed but it might get lost somehow or simply gifted to someone responsible. Some Extra Reasoning Tidbits - I used Survive as one of the Dawnshards because Kelsier mentions hearing a voice tell him to Survive within the Pits and because it fits as a nice clean opposing force to Change. We also know a powerful weapon is hidden on Scadrial. - I used Unite because Dalinar's "I am Unity" moment as well as several mentions of Unity in Elantris in regards to Devotion and Dominions religions. There's also mentions of a Dawnshard that binds things, which I believe is Unite. - Distinguish (still feel like that's not a perfect word) is in there because I needed something to oppose Unity that fit for the remaining three Shards. Individuality seems to fit in my opinion. - As for why Honor mentioned that they won't have access to the Dawnshards, I have no idea. There's already one confirmed to be on the planet and if my theory is right there's another two. Maybe he's saying they can't use them because of the oaths? That seems to be the original purpose of Radiant oaths, to keep the people who could potentially misuse a Dawnshard in check. - I believe the one Dawnshard that is different from the other, as mentioned in a WoB, is the Survive Dawnshard as it's on Scadrial and the other three are on Roshar. - The Shard of Adonalsium that is loosely associated with wisdom and "just want's to survive" is probably in the Survive quadrant. - It seems to me from the line in the novella about Rysn not being able to use the power and the restriction in their contract about becoming a surgebinder suggests that the Dawnshard requires some sort of magic already present in the wielder in order to make it work. This suggests to me that the Dawnshard is less of a powerful spell and more of an amplifier of other magics, making them far more powerful and versatile. This is probably due to the problem that Nikli mentions about needing the breadth of understanding equivalent to a deity. A Dawnshard in a Soother's hands might let them manipulate the minds of everyone on a whole planet because the Soother's powers are being used as a framework in place of that required understanding. A Soother with Dawnshard could probably not manipulate the laws of physics to the same extent as he could manipulate emotions. Maybe a little, but not to the same apocalyptic degree that a Shardic Vessel could. - We know that Hoid derives his immortality from the weapon that killed Adonalsium and we know that he's been cursed to never harm another living thing. I believe that both of those come from the Survive Dawnshard. He survives through anything, including death, because of the residual influence of the Dawnshard. He also can't kill or maim because that's antithetical to the concept of survival. What are your guy's thoughts on all of this? Let's discuss.