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Something, i realized on a reread recently. Renarin had to learn to read AFTER he gained the ability to see the future. Soooo. WHO was writting the words under the images? IIRC, I think there was some question along this line about Dalinars visions as well. Any ideas?

Wow! My first big theory! Feels good! I can't wait to see how Book 4 disproves all of this with a single paragraph. So, let's get into things. Some Background Most of this speculation comes from a small argument I had on our lovely Discord about magic systems and methods of access. Yknow, stuff like Bonds and Oaths and breathing in Stormlight. So, at the tail end of this discussion, I had a thought. What is Voidbinding's method of access? Well, you might say Voidlight, but I don't believe the Fused are Voidbinding (yet). But even if that's the case, I assume Voidlight would only be a key, similarly to Stormlight. Not everyone can Surgebind, you need to have a Nahel bond with a Radiant Spren, and you need to say Oaths. So that's what I'm going to call a "method of access" for this theory. With that, let's begin! The Nightwatcher, the Unmade, and providing external powers So, two big parts of my theory are these two nuggets of information. First up is the information that Voidbinding usually originates with the Unmade. The second nugget is that Voidbinding and the Old Magic are "cousins", as stated by Khriss in the Ars Arcanum: So, how does the Old Magic work? As far as we know, it's just the Nightwatcher chucking Investiture at people to facilitate a change. So, if Voidbinding and the Old Magic can be considered "cousins", perhaps the similarities lie here. The Unmade provide an external form of Investiture, either in the form the ability to use Voids/Surges/Voidsurges (terminology unclear), Voidlight, or both. But unlike the Old Magic, Voidbinding seems to be a much more rigid magic system standard of Brandon. It was used (at least in some form, since we can assume that Voidbinding has not been fully explored) frequently enough that the Vorins were able to make a (probably incorrect) chart for it. So, if it's a rigid, Sanderson-brand magic system, how's it work? What's the key? The focus? The method of access? Well... The empty pit that sucks in emotion I can't fully confirm what Voidbinding does once it's activated, whether it's Surges used in a crazy new light, to simply corrupted Surgebinding, to something entirely out of left field. But I can ask you a question: why does Surgebinding love bonds so much? I'd think it's because Honor likes bonds and oaths. It's his "thing". Gravitation even works the way it does in Surgebinding because Honor loves bonds. He likes to make them, he sticks by them, and he uses them for all his crazy magic (sealing away Odium, establishing the Oathpact, etc). So what's Odium's "thing"? What does he do? From what we've seen in Oathbringer, and that ominous quote from the Eila Stele I put before this paragraph, Odium "takes away pain". His followers (this is especially apparent in Moash) throw the blame on someone else. They relieve themselves of their pain, and as a result they feel a depressive void. When Dalinar abuses the Thrill, he becomes unable to be sated by anything but Thrill-infused carnage. There is no emotion unless he is accessing Odium's power. While this is obviously a metaphor for drug/alcohol abuse, I do think it still relates to Odium magically. So, how does this relate to Voidbinding? Well, if we go forward with the idea that the method of access for magic systems is related to the Modus Operandi of their Shard of origin, than perhaps in order to use Voidbinding, you have to drain yourself. Possibly of emotion, possibly of a variety of things that the Unmade ask of you, maybe both, but I believe that Voidbinding requires the user to drain themselves of something. Once they give up their "pain", the Unmade can step in, and provide that internal Investiture source, whatever that may be. I'm not quite sure how it works, but one possible way might be like this: Some person has Voidlight. They breathe in the Voidlight, and focus on their "pain". The Voidlight gets to work and takes the person's pain. Some Unmade steps in, and forges a quick connection with the person, filling them up with Voidy Juice. Ta-da! You've got yourself a Voidbinder! This might not be exactly how things work, and it might not even need Voidlight at all, but that remains to be seen. I will give you my sorrow There's still a chasmfiend in the room: Renarin. He's obviously related in some way to the Void, due to Brandon's chart-pointing and the fact that his Spren is "Enlightened" by Sja-Anat. Since he seems unable to produce illusions (this remains to be seen, but he does seem to have an abnormally difficult time producing them, even accidentally), many people have considered the idea that his Surge of Illumination has been coopted and replaced with the Void/Voidsurge of Illumination. But Voidbinding originates with the Unmade, right? Well, only usually, whatever that means. So, Renarin bonding a corrupted spren. That might be one of the less common methods of obtaining Voidbinding. Now, according to Brandon, Renarin is "weird' and not really fully Voidbinding. What does he mean by this? Well, there are a lot of theories, but one I think works is that Renarin isn't really doing much - Glys is facilitating everything. It's definitely possible for spren to access Surges. Syl does a bit of it, and Fabrials obviously work that way in some form. And now, this might be a stretch, but consider, Right before Renarin sees his final vision in OB, this little line shows up : "I will give you my sorrow". And then the next time we see Renarin, boom. Vision time. I might be completely reading too far into this, but if Voidbinding does require giving up "pain" or emotions, than perhaps to use Voidish Illumination, one must give up their sorrow. And since Renarin either doesn't want to or doesn't know how, Glys has been facilitating it for the time being? Can Renarin Voidbind on his own? Does he need an Unmade, or will his strange bond suffice? That remains to be seen. Ending And with that, all my weird speculation comes to a wrap! Thanks for reading, and feel free to tear into this in the replies. I think it holds some water, and even if I'm mostly wrong, this might be a piece to a larger puzzle. See you all soon!

Here's a little something I wrote to explore Dalinar's first attempts Summary (Possible Oathbringer Spoilers): (Open this spoiler to see fic):

I’ve mentioned this a couple times on the Discord, but I just wanted to put it here as well. To me, the Elsecallers really seem to give off a vibe of being a very knowledge and logic-oriented Order of Radiants, at least if Jasnah is anything approaching a representative member of the Order. So that being said, I strongly suspect that at the end of Oathbringer, Jasnah swears her fourth ideal (or maybe her 5th, though I’d be really irritated at Brandon), and what's more, I also have a theory as to what it was, at least generally. Based on hints we've gotten about the Windrunner 4th oath from the gem archive, it seems that 4th ideals may generally be a significant shake-up from the previous three, with the Windrunners' presumably having something to do with it being okay to not be able to protect people under certain circumstances. Well, if that trend holds true for Elsecallers too, and if the Elsecaller ideals regard being logical and rational in their decisions and outlook, both of which I acknowledge are assumptions at this point, but I think plausible ones, what might their 4th ideal be? To me, it seems pretty obvious. Why did Jasnah not kill Renarin at the end of Oathbringer despite having every reason to suspect that he had been corrupted by Odium and was now at the very least a great danger to their cause? Because despite her knowing that it was the 'logical' thing to do, her love for him stayed her hand long enough for her to realize that not all was as it seemed. I think that moment was symbolic of her realizing her 4th ideal. And so, I put forth this as a possible candidate for what it was: “I will not allow logic at the complete expense of all emotional attachment to dictate important decisions I must make.” A very common trope is that people who are hyper-logical will often do terrible things because they disregard what their 'hearts' tell them is right. So to me it makes sense for one of the Elsecaller ideals to be a counter to this danger. Anyone have any thoughts?

I am wondering if Renarin is the first person that Glys bonded or if there were others? For example that other truthwatcher in the epigraph that forsaw things, is it possible he didn’t bond a different corrupted truthwatcher spren, but was a different person who bonded with Glys a long time ago? I posit that what makes Renarin special isn’t the bond with Glys peesay as that has been done before. But that because of the corruption and potential Odium there has always been a risk of someone who bonded with Glys breaking under the influence of visions and potential corruption of Odium. What makes Renarin special is that he did NOT break. And when he failed to break, when he ACCEPTED what he saw, is when he changed the future and became invisible to Odium. If this sounds crazy, remember that as much as Oathbringer has been about people taking responsibility. It’s also been about people who refused to break vs people who did. Kaladin to Amaram: “Did thebear forge the spear? No. It simply identified the spear that did not break.” Dalinar to Odium: “You cannot have my pain.” etc

My theory on why the Lightweavers and Truthwatchers are so close together on the Knight Radiant chart has to do with the fine line between the Truth and a Lie. We’ve seen that Cryptics are attrcted to anything that is NOT literally true, and we’ve seen how Shallan uses lies to inspire people. What little we know about the Truthwatchers was that they had a great deal of tact. I don’t know how Renarin differs from a standard Truthwatcher but as someone on the Autistic spectrum, although at a different point on it then he is (I was diagnosed with Asperger’s before it was rolled up under the umbrella in the latested DSM, so think more like Steris from Wax and Wayne) I can tell you about my relationship with the Truth. Not only does telling a lie have a strong effect on my concious, but so does not telling the whole truth. Leaving out details. Even the type of details that would make people uncomfortable. To use the sterotype here, don’t ask me if you look fat, unless you really want to know if you think you look fat. I won’t judge you for it or anything as I am overweight myself. But if you ask the question expect the answer. This is because, first off from my perspective, how am I supposed to tell if you are one if the people who fits the stereotype, or someone who genuinely wants to know if they look fat? If you are the latter then I am answering the question you asked, if you are the former, well “why did you ask a question if you didn’t want an answer in the first place?” At least that how it feels to me. It frustrates me. But I have come to realize that for much as people CLAIM they want the truth they often only want it when it clings to their point of view. That being said I can leave out details or give selective answers if I HAVE to but even something that is TECHNICALLY true rather than a flat out lie, will still bug because feels manipulative not telling the whole truth. Here’s where theory time comes into play. What if the difference between Lightweavers and Truthwatchers is such. Lightweavers are both broken by lies AND able to out and lie. But they also are able to inspire and hold things together by telling lies. They believe that everything about themselves is a lie. (Ironically they progress by telling truths.) (uber speculation) Truthwatchers on the other hand might still TECHNICALLY TELL the truth but by not TELLING the whole truth. They FEEL like they are lieing. The fact that they have to bend the truth in order to save others is what breaks them. That’s my theory. P.S. I am doing a reread and rereading sections with Renarin more closely. Anything I see that could help or hinder I will let you know.

It's been known for awhile that Renarin Kholin has autism, thanks to several WoBs on this topic. I believe its important to have characters that have autism in fiction, but this isn't exactly what this topic is about... Thanks to Renarin's view point in Oathbringer, we now have a pretty good idea how his autism effects him. He is sensitive to sounds, uncomfortable at large gatherings of people (because of the noise and sound), unable to meet the eyes of others most of the time, and uncomfortable with being touched by those who aren't a part of his family. However, we've talked about this a lot already throughout the years, though this book reveals that Renarin is what many would diagnosis as Extremely High Functioning based on his symptoms and how he views the world (1). There is something more important that Oathbringer reveals, I believe. Jasnah is on the Spectrum or has a related disorder (such as ADHD). Oathbringer, 1132 (emphasis mine) While one might say this is related to what Dalinar refers to "her lunacy" (493) in one of the Flashbacks, and the earlier (473), when Jasnah recalls a childhood illness - Oathbringer, 478 - which she then says caused her to lose her mind. I don't believe that is all. In WoR, Navani stated that Jasnah was distant even as a child, and came off as someone who was already in their thirties. Often times, those who were diagnosed with Asperger's (which is not exactly the same as extremely high functioning autism, though many will tell you otherwise) in the 90s and 2000s before the DSM-5 was released in 2013, were described as "little professors". This is what I think that Jasnah was like growing up from the in-book descriptions. Plus, Jasnah is off compared to characters who are more neurotypical, like Adolin or Navani. She is really only close to her family (and Shallan to some extent), doesn't express herself openly (she's often seen as stoic and stern by outsiders, solemn), and is highly focused on her special interests (the Desolations and history). These are traits found in those with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), though I think that Jasnah either has Aspergers or Pervasive developmental disorder (PDD-NOS), which is a diagnosis given to those who have some, but not enough of the traits, for a standard ASD-diagnosis (under the DSM-4). This isn't just important because it could mean there is another character with autism in the cosmere, it also would say something about the Kholins themselves. ASD commonly runs in families, and with Jasnah being autistic, having Asperger's, or at least, PDD-NOS (that is, some autistic traits), it means that ASD runs in the Kholins. This is important to me, because it runs in my family (both my siblings and a few of my cousins), and that is something I haven't seen done in fiction before. It's awesome, and I hope it's true because I haven't seen families like mine represented in fiction. And that is super meaningful to me. (I will bring up the diagnosis definitions later if people ask, but I have to do some chores and things, so please be patient with me. I'll get back to it, promise).

Here is the quote for those who want it. It’s a line by Renarin, spoken to his brother Adolin. “I don’t like you get when you are around Sadeas.” So yeah, I just started a reread, and I thought that line was worth noting. Brandon FORESHADOWED the conflict All the way in chapter 12 the FIRST TIME WE MEET THESE CHARACTERS. And I don’t know if it’s relavent or not but given how we later learn about Renarin Voidbinding visions of the future, is it possible he’s been seeing them since before we met him? And ONE of the reasons he’s worried is because of a vision? I don’t know but in any case this little bit here gained SO much new relavance. That I had to share it.

1. I am, like, 99% certain Cultivation inspired the Diagram "It sure is suspicious" that Taravangian managed to figure out all those secret things about Roshar just from being really smart. The primary candidates for giving Mr. T a helping hand have been Odium and Cultivation. Odium's reaction to the Diagram at the end of OB implies that it's the first time he's seen it- and more importantly, there are parts that he can't perceive. It seems reasonable to me that the only being that can hide things from a Shard would be another Shard. And which bits can't Odium see? Something about Renarin Kholin. (Who, it may or may not be relevant, was the one who wrote the Diagram in WoK Prime). 2. Renarin the sorta-Radiant and Glys the sorta-voidspren The most unique thing about Renarin, of course, is that he bonded a corrupted spren. Whatever that means. As far as I can can tell from Renarin's PoVs, Glys is solidly on Team Kick Odium's Chull Back To Braize. This despite the fact that he was remade by an Unmade, and (as per Argent's Secret Hint) gives access to Voidbinding. I think Glys used to be a normal Truthwatcher spren, because he does give regular Progression, and because Renarin's visions sound like a corrupted version of normal Truthwatcher resonance. There's a very popular theory around here that the top of the Surgebinding diagram is the orders and spren closest to Honor, and the bottom is the closest to Cultivation. Truthwatchers are right in the double eye, smack in the middle of the presumed Cultivation-centric spren. 3. Sja-Anat Sja-anat, despite being an Unmade, wants to defect. I think this must be a recent development, or Odium would have noticed. If the epigraphs are to be believed, her ability to corrupt bondspren is a recent thing, too. 4. Theorycrafting: Cultivation's long game Renarin might just be a central piece in Cultivation's long game. What if Cultivation is working with Sja-anat to help her break free from Odium? Subtly, at first, so that at the right moment S-a can switch sides without getting squished by her former boss. What if Cultivation deliberately sent Glys to Sja-anat, to be corrupted in a very specific way which would further Cultivation's plans? Maybe she even helped S-a with the corruption process, which is why S-a was able to "enlighten" a bondspren in the first place. Thus, Odium eventually loses one of his nine strongest minions. And Team Honor-Cultivation gains a new type of Radiant, one that, for some reason, is in Odium's blind spot.

Hey, remember reading in one of the posts on this site that in the Arcanum voidbinding has 10 forms. This got me thinking though, because in OB Moash said that he had seen 9 types of fused. What if voidbinding is not the surge system granted by the fused, but the surge system granted when a high spren enters a parshendi gem-heart, and the fused system is different entirely? Venli would be a true voidbinder, and Renarin is simply a human with the voidbinding surges?

Because this is the closest I'll ever get to skill at art, I present to you good people of the shard... Stormlight Archive, as told by legos! (only characters right now, I may do some other things in the future... In order: Szeth - (assassin in white), Blackthorn, Eshonai, Elhokar, Sadeas - (grandbow), Shallan, Kaladin - (Radiant), Renarin - (bonding a Blade), Renarin - (Radiant). I just realized these belong in a gallery, all my new ones will be there

A super random observation, BS has described the vast majority of "primary/secondary" characters in the first two books. It's only now that we find out what Renarin looks like re: hair and eye color? I have to wonder at the significance of waiting this long to describe him. and

I haven't seen this posted anywhere else, yet, so if it has been, please let me know. So I've been thinking a lot about this recently, and I'm not sure if I've stumbled across something incredibly mundane, or perhaps game-changing when it comes to Roshar, Shardblades, Spren, and the Cosmere at large. I am, of course, speaking about Glys. More specifically his form as a shardblade. When Renarin shows Adolin his Glysblade for the first time, it is described as having a rippled look to the metal, and it's shape is similar to that of a katana. "He took a deep breath, then stretched his hand to the side and summoned a long glowing Shardblade. Thin, with almost no crossguard, it had waving folds to the metal, like it had been forged." In real life, those ripples come from the forging process of folding and re-folding the metal multiple times. I'm wondering if Glys's nature as being Sja-Anat's "son", the fact that he is a corrupted Truthwatcher Spren, is why his blade looks like it was forged, instead of the typical smooth look most Shardblades have. I could be on to nothing with this, but it seems to me that Glys would be considered "co-opted investiture", and that perhaps in metallic form, corrupted investiture would appear like two different metals forged into one, i.e. the ripple effect. ETA - Quote from the book

I recently listened to the Shardcast on Resonances and was wondering due to the mixing of Odious Investiture with the Nahel bond if Renarin and/or Venli would have a different Resonance than other Truthwatchers or Willshaperes?

This month’s Shardcast concludes Sja-Anat “corrupts” a Truthwatcher spren, Glys. The Shardcasters believe Renarin both Voidbinds (foresees) and Surgebinds (heals). Many posters agree. I see another possibility: Maybe Cultivation transforms a Sja-Anat splinter, Glys, into a Nahel-bondable Radiant spren? Sja-Anat says to Shallan during their Oathgate encounter (OB, Chapter 84, Kindle p. 817), In the next chapter, Sja-Anat sadly tells Shallan (OB, Chapter 85, Kindle p. 822), IMO, Sja-Anat juxtaposes her corruption of the Oathgate spren – which she was “compelled to touch” – with her “son” and other “children.” This suggests Sja-Anat’s children are not corrupted spren like “the spren of this device” (a cold description, I think). She doesn’t claim the Oathgate spren as her children or ask Shallan to check with them. Other Kholinar spren Sja-Anat corrupts appear to be pre-Shattering Adonalsium spren – exhaustionspren, painspren, and shamespren. Spren “create” children. Their children share their Investiture. Syl is the Stormfather’s daughter. After the Recreance, the Stormfather “created only ten more” honorspren. (OB, Chapter 108, Kindle p. 1015.) Notum’s great-grandmother was one, who in turn “created” his grandfather, who then “created” his father, who “created” Notum. Ico’s father was a Radiant spren. Though it’s possible, I don’t believe spren “adopt” other spren’s children by injecting alien Investiture into them. The injected Investiture instead “corrupts” them (IMO). Here’s my theory: I think Cultivation transforms Sja-Anat, freeing her from Odium’s influence – “I am of me. Now, only of me.” Sja-Anat remains Odium’s Investiture, but her mind now is her own. IOW, I believe Cultivation gives Sja-Anat free will. Sja-Anat then creates her “son,” the voidspren Glys. I believe Cultivation transforms Glys to make him Nahel-bondable. Glys gives Renarin his powers through the Nahel bond. IMO, that makes Renarin a Surgebinder. A Nahel-bonded voidspren can process Stormlight to Focus any power Cultivation wants it to, including foresight and healing. My “Pathways to Power” post concludes all Shards use the same powers. Brandon says Shards differ only in ”the means of getting powers,” the “WAY the magic is obtained.” Surgebinders IMO gain magic through the Cognitive Connection of the Nahel bond, which Renarin and Glys share. I believe Cultivation wanted Renarin to have foresight. Renarin’s name implies his uniqueness: “Like one who was born unto himself.” (OB, Chapter 52, Kindle p. 515.) Cultivation needs a voidspren to provide foresight because humans personify foresight as “of Odium.” In presenting my interpretation of Glys and Renarin, I don’t mean to impugn other interpretations. All are valid, but none rise to the level of “cosmere fact.” @Calderis, if you look again at my last post in our prior conversation, you’ll see I do account for your “context” when I disagree with you about Renarin’s Voidbinding. As I said there, you may be right, but there is ample room for other views. I do think Sja-Anat is capable of corrupting Radiant spren, and she may have corrupted them in the past. It’s possible, though, Cultivation caused the earlier “corruption.” I believe Glys may be part of a far-reaching plan Cultivation’s long-considered.

Following the most recent episode of Shardcast, I brain spewed forth this idea. As we have not yet seen Sja-anat in physical form, since we have not yet seen her features (her form is a black shadow iwith glowing white eyes), and since she seems to display not only sapience, but also independence of thought and action, is it possible that she is powerful among the unmade? If she has enough power, could she manifest a physical form? Since Odium was preparing Dalinar to fall, could Evi have been Sja-anat? Drawing from the podcast, if we assume that Sja-anat can resurrect dead spren, then it could be that Adolin's communication with his shard blade is inherited from his Unmade mother. This would also make Renarin a son of Sja-anat, and could potentially make him more susceptible to bonding to one of her corrupted spren. His sickness could also be a result of him possessing mixed DNA, or a mix of innate investiture. It also makes sense that Odium would use Sja-anat, posing as Evi, to push Dalinar further over the edge and make him more susceptible to The Thrill. She could do this by constantly challenging his values, or by acting completely out of character and doing something brash, like get captured by an enemy side.

So we know that Renarin seems to have a special place in the Diagram, and Odium is unable to see his part in it. I can see two possible reasons for this, that might be inter-related. 1. His ability to see the future as Odium sees it changes the future. We know that Renarin seems to have his future seeing ability through Glys' corruption. Presumably (given that both Renarin and Odium incorrectly see Dalinar fall) the future he sees is the same future that Odium has predicted. But this knowledge changes things. For example, Jasnah is set to kill Renarin when he turns around and nods, knowing what she will do and accepting it. That act prompts her to stop. By knowing a future he ended up preventing it. It will be interesting to see if he will start using this information consciously, working against Odium by using his own assumptions about the future against him. 2. He is Like an anti-Odium In the scene "A small bottle" Dalinar reflects that he can't understand why his sons don't hate him. This is particularly striking for Renarin given that we have seen ample evidence of Dalinar' lack of love towards his youngest up to this point. Yet he doesn't hate him, instead he shows extrodinary love and empathy. It may be that Renarin is so different from Odium that he either slips under the radar or Odium simply can't predict his actions because they are so alien to his nature. Curious to hear other theories.