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I find that some of Brandon’s books don’t receive the recognition they should, merely because they are shorter and less involved than the Stormlight Archives. Don't get me wrong, I love that series, but lots of people ignore everything else. I’d like to try to remedy that, for the Emperor's Soul at least. I'm not sure about other readers, but for me reading is all about the characters. I don't often try my hand at writing, but when I do I find that I can't plan my characters, because when I do they no longer fit the plot. They feel forced, because that's what they end up being. I have to take a different approach. I allow my subconsciousness to create the character that will react correctly to the plot; Instead of having the character do certain things, I set up a situation and write down their reaction to that- all without consciously knowing the character. The strange part of it all is, it works. The correct character sets up a story for either success or failure. The plot itself is important, but not nearly as. Stories are centered around characters. The stories are told through them, focused around other people, and the viewpoint character's feelings influence the reader's perception of events and people. A good writer can saturate a book with hints of a character's personality without even a sentence describing it. When I read the Emperor's Soul, I was immediately captured by the magic system. Not only is it artistic in nature- something I imagine most readers would enjoy, as writing is itself an art- it's very focus is centered around souls and the ability to understand them. That is, in effect, the very essence of reading as well- at least to me. The connection I felt with Shai was instantaneous, and only continued to grow as she was required to search for the personality not just of people around her, but through words the person had written in description of events in their life. The parallel between our situations was not lost to me, as I began to feel a bond deeper to Shai than any I had ever felt with anyone. Through that, I felt a bond with Brandon- I will probably never know him, but I’ve always held that a writer's books can often tell you as much or more about them than it can about the characters. The most amazing scene, however, was of course when Gaotona held the book in his arms. The connection with him, though not as complete as the one with Shai, was magnified because of the one with Shai as both I and Gaotona sat marveling at the book. Meanwhile, the more removed part of my brain sat marveling at the book I held in my arms. In other words, it was a double whammy. I found it ironic, then, when I turned to the postscript and read the words written there. Write what you know. I'm sure by now you'll understand the types of thoughts that were running through my mind at this time. Brandon, however, wasn't referring to how similar forgery was to writing characters. The point of all this is, of course, to try to help you realize that internal struggle is what makes a story. The plotline itself may have been boring, with the viewpoint character locked in a single room. But to connect so deeply… that's the mark of a truly amazing story. I can't change your personality with these words, so you might still find the Emperor's Soul to be boring, but I hope that I've been able to nudge you towards having a certain, more favorable, attitude toward this book. Thank you for your time. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to explain this all that well.

I just finished reading Emperor's Soul which was amazing. As I was reading through there was one thing that caught my attention and brought me back to Mistborn Era 2. On Day 97 (I think), Shai begins describing the appearance of Soulstone in detail for the first time. This immediately made me recall descriptions of the unknown metal Bleeder was using in Shadows of Self, which they later dubbed "Trellium". We know that it is not a common metal because Harmony could not recognize it, and it is widely believed to be a god metal like atium or lerasium but from a different Shard not native to Scadrial. Shai eludes to that as well a few sentences after on the same page. Seeing how we know Odium at some point before the Oathpact went to Sel and splintered Dominion and Devotion, that quote sounds like part of the result of that action. Those events on Sel have been described as cataclysmic so invested stone/metal raining from the sky afterwards seems to fit. I do not however think that means Devotion or Dominion are Trell; they are both splintered and their Vessels dead. It just means that the Set's "Faceless Immortals" have been on Sel or have other means of acquiring it. If the theory proves true, it would suggest that those "Faceless Immortals" are the same as the Svrakiss of the Derethi religion, and likely minions of Odium and/or his potential cohorts for the past however many millennia. Not to say that he is himself Trell, but I would be surprised if he wasn't involved regardless of his imprisonment on Braize. I have more in depth ideas about this latter part, but I am pretty confident that Soulstone is the god metal Trellium.

While reading Arcanum Unbounded, I reread the Emperor's Soul and I noticed something that I think is an important clue. The Emperor's Soul takes place in a region far away that was never mentioned by any characters. Even Gyorn Hrathen seemed unaware to their presence. He frequently spoke of how their god Jaddeth wouldn't be satisfied until the whole world was Derethi, and that seemed to only include converting Arelon and Teod. So, it can be assumed that they didn't know of the other empire at the time. While it has been stated that the Emperor's Soul takes place "shortly" after Elantris, at least to the point that technology hasn't had time to change. I think it takes place after the unreleased Elantris sequel, since that is only supposed to be 15 years after the first. So, back to Emperor's Soul. Near the end, when she is running to make her escape, Shai runs into a "southern ambassador in red armor." As we all know, red armor is what the Derethi Gyorns wear. Now, it was never a secret that, at this point in time, the two empires were aware of each other. So, with what we know of Gyorns, they only show up to make some mass conversion (as with Hrathen at the Duladel Republic and with the Arelon and Teoish Monarchies). Either Wyrn has decided to expand his horizons by converting others before eliminating Teod and Arelon or he already has destroyed them. We may see more of this in the coming sequel, which we won't see for several years. Now, let's talk about another thing. Shai is there to Forge a new soul for Emperor Ashravan after assassins from the Glory Faction killed the patron from the Heritage Faction. I believe that the Glory Faction was sought out by the visiting Gyron and tempted to convert to Shu-Dereth in return for the throne. Shai only ever saw a tiny part of the plots due to being confined for so long and being away from court politics. Plus, with the Arbiters having little knowledge of Shu-Dereth, they would be oblivious to the conquering nature of the religion. So, it stands to reason that, do to our limited view of the palace, more is going on than meets the eye here. So, lets take stock of the theory 1) The Emperor's Soul takes place after the unreleased Elantris Sequel 2) The Svordish Empire still stands powerful in Opelon 3) Either Arelon and Teod are conquered or are being ignored for the time being 4) The ambassador in red armor is a Derethi Gyron 5) The Gyorn was working with the Glory Faction and was aided them in the assassination of Ashravan So yeah, that's my theory

So I was just re-reading Emperor's Soul when suddenly, a thought hit me. The entire premise of the book is that the emperor's brain was injured in an attack and healed. The twist is, he was essentially rendered a vegetable. Shai's job is to What I realized is that soulstamps just rewrite an object's history... so, why not just rewrite the emperor's history so that the arrow hit him in the shoulder, or didn't strike him stupid. Is there any real need to give him a new personality? Speaking of which, how does that work? My impression was that Shai's stamp was made to change the emperor's history to make his personality similar to his old, pre-injury one. But, why does she need to rewrite his entire history? His personality was fine up untill the brain injury, so I think it would just be easier to make the injury less severe, or hit somewhere else so the emperor's brain wasn't damaged. Did I read the entire plot wrong or does it just not make sense?

Note: I haven't been very active within the 17th shard, and don't know if this idea has been brought up before. Also, this will jump back and forth between several Cosmere works, but will mainly focus on Warbreaker. Now to begin... I was recently rereading Warbreaker when I noticed something interesting. Specifically on page 129 when Llarimar is talking to Lightsong about why he would have returned As to how this origin is specifically is important, in Mistborn: Secret History We also get to see the Cognitive Realm from Jasnah and Shallan's point of views in the Stormlight Archives, essentially a world filled with an ocean of spheres. With the way the Cognitive Realm is shown on these shardworlds, it can be seen that the Cognitive Realm mirrors the Physical Realm and is where people go after dying, but only temporarily in most cases. As to how the amount of time someone remains within the Cognitive Realm affects the origin of the Returned, we know that after a few moments, minutes tops, the soul, or Cognitive Shadow, moves on to the Spiritual Realm. Within Warbreaker, when Llarimar reveals Ligtsong's former life, he mentions that they found him dead, and then he Returned. This means that Lightsong had been dead for a relatively long amount of time, as he had died at sea and they had had to recover his body. Most likely within this circumstance, Lightsong had moved on to the Spiritual Realm, and then Returned. Another reason to support Lightsong's journey to the Spiritual Realm, is the perception of time. As shown in both shardworlds, time moves parallel between the cognitive and physical realms. This means that the future couldn't be seen in either of these. With this knowledge of the realms, anything that does not play into the present status of the Cosmere, must occur within the Spiritual Realm. This is supported within the Emperor's Soul as the magic system, forging, works by changing the past of the person or object being affected, and has also been mentioned as pertaining to the Spirtiual Realm. With this idea in mind, the quote from earlier mentions the future, which is not the present, and therefore would likely occur within the Spiritual Realm. I must now humbly admit that this is a theory, and is simply based upon what was seemingly a revelation to me as I was reading. However, I do ask that you take this seriously, and take whatever thoughts it inspires to new heights, and maybe even offer more evidence to support this theory, or tweak it slightly to make it fit better within the cosmere.

I looked through the forums to see if this was brought up anywhere else, and did no see anything. Apologies if I am re-treading old ground. I am currently re-reading Elantris, and I noticed that it has a very specific timeline. A number of Cosmere stories have timelines, and Deadlines, there would be far less urgency without them. WoR had the Count down on the walls. Kelsier'sand Denth's plans had nebulous timelines to accomplish their goals (about a year each). But as far as I can tell, only the books that take place on Sel, Elantris and The Emperor's Soul, have very specific timelines. Deadlines that are set, and Bad Things will happen if they are not met. (Yes, White Sand has a deadline to, but the consequence does not seem as dire as in these two) Hrathren has three months to prepare Arelon before it is destroyed. He interprets this as having three months to accomplish a full conversion of the nobility, or Wyrn will invade and destroy. (For you number counters out there, the Duladel republic fell six months after he arrived, 2x3 months) Shai was given the three months of the mourning period to craft a new soul for the Emperor, or she would be executed. Both had 90 day absolute deadlines. It could be coincidence. Or it could not. Assuming Brandon very carefully crafts his worlds, and little is left to chance in the Cosmere, what do you think the relevance of 90 is on Sel?

I dont have a book in front of me so i might not be 100% accurate with some statements, but while i was reading, i noticed that when the translator arm band was being explained it was stated something to the extent that it changes your soul to your location. It was also mentioned that they have markings/designs on them. Could these be stamps? as they have to be pressed against your skin and dont work over clothing. Granted a "change of soul" wasnt mentioned when using the weight and heat bands and i assume there would be some issue with swapping between them quickly. Just a thought and was curious what other people thought.

Hi, I'm new, and have been reading through some theories and found something that caught my eye and I'm not sure if anything has been said/somewhere else in a thread that I haven't located? I noticed that both Ashravan, from Emperor's Soul, and the Body that falls in Mistborn after Elend meets the mist shadow, are both described as having a Prominent Nose. Has anyone else noticed this or am I making something of nothing?

I have no cliue what I am doing here, as I have only read all Alcatraz books (1-4), Elantris, The Emperor's soul, and Steelheart and Firefight. Ah well. I made my username, Saonae, out of the symbols in the back of the Elantris book. "Sao", means intelligence or learning, and "nae", means sight or clarity. I look forward to posting with everybody!

So the last week or two me and my good buddy(irl) Sirce Luckwielder have been having a discussion about Atium and how it is linked to the Lord Ruler's staying young. It led to some other discussions and I was wondering if any of what i suspect has been confirmed. Or maybe some of you who are smarter than I am can help credit or discredit this theory. I don't see how we will see Atium again at all and this is why. Atium was the physical manifestation of Ruin but it was either all used up to fight the Koloss or destroyed by Kelsier in the pits of Hathsin. He thinks that since Sazed has both shards there will still be Atium that will regrow. I disagree. Anyways, all of this discussion got me looking in to things that i haven't really cared about in the past (I'm a Roshar guy!) and I have firmed up in my conclusion that Ruin and Preservation no longer exist or are on the verge of no longer existing as two seperate shards. In The Emperor's Soul, Shai tries to teach Gaotona about the Physical, Spiritual, and Cognitive realm and she says this: All things exist in the three realms, Gaotona.... The Physical is what we feel, what is before us. The Cognitive is how an bject is viewed and how it views itself. The Spiritual Realm contains an object's soul- its essence- as well as the ways it is connected to the things and people around it.......Here is the point. The longer an object exists as a whole, and the longer it is seen in that state, the stronger its sense of complete identity becomes.. Do citizens of Scarial see Sazed as Ruin and Preservation? I do not believe so(my memory isn't perfect) They see him as Harmony. Sazed is seen as one entity, not to. So I believe that if the shards haven't already been merged, they are on their way. Anyways, I was wondering what people think about this theory. Sorry my post might seem all over the place, I have a hard time typing out the thoughts in my head. This is kind of new to me as I haven't spent a lot of time thinking about things on Scadrial, I've mostly kept to Roshar. So please forgive anything I might have misunderstood. Also, I'm sure when Sirce has a minute he can write our discussion better, he's a lot better with words than I am.

Hey, i was wondering is anyone could explain to me a bit more on how Elantris works with all of this Cosmere stuff. Is Aon Dor a shard? How does this book fit into all of this stuff? Also, i have seen emperor's soul bunched up with Elantris, why? How are those two books similar? Thanks! - I have read all of the cosmere books so don't worry about spoilers to me.

First topic of my own! Reading this post today gave me a thought about marrying the regional magic systems of Sel with some Realmatic Theory. After a quick search, I didn't see anything posted that covered all of my thoughts, but apologies if this has been said before. Anyways, here goes: Spiritual - A Selian's innate ability to invest in the powers of Devotion and/or Dominion; their particular heritage has an impact on their sDNA and so impacts which system someone can use. Cognitive - As described here, the cognitive aspect of a nation determines the base shape, but I think this must also be in harmony with the physical world. I imagine that the fall of Elantris happened when the chasm appeared, not when the country as a whole learned about it. I also think that an individual's cognitive understanding of their heritage, like their sDNA, has an impact on the system they use. Physical: The base shape must physically match that of the nation you are currently in. The key point: Spiritual and Cognitive impact your ability and method to access investiture. Cognitive and Physical impact the base form. This would mean that someone from Mai Pon could use Forging in Arelon if they used Aon Aon as their base. Let the debate begin!