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So, I recently posted in the chapters 22-24 reaction thread about Kaladin's conversation with the Voidspren and compared it to the conversation that Dalinar had with the Radiant in his first vision in WoK. After thinking about it some more, I felt that it deserved its own topic. Given the similarity between these two conversations, I suspect that the Voidspren was talking about Kaladin's potential as a Voidbinder, just as the Radiant was talking about "Dalinar's" potential as a Radiant. So, let's use that as our base assumption. Why then, could the spren not offer to bond Kaladin herself. Obviously, the Radiant couldn't make such an offer since he wasn't a spren, but that isn't really an issue here. There are three possibilities that I can think of: The spren was lying, so as to test Kaladin's reactions. The spren is the wrong type of Voidspren and therefore has to leave it to a different spren. The spren is already bonded to someone. I would like to focus on the third possibility here since I think that it's the most interesting, and it would explain something that otherwise doesn't make much sense. How is the spren sapient? Every other sapient spren that we have ever seen has either remained Shadesmar or has been bonded to someone. This even extends to other worlds. (Elantris spoilers) So, how can this spren be sapient? The obvious answer is that she's bonded to someone. In that case, who could she have bonded? There are no obvious candidates, after all. If we assume that the Voidspren bond acts anything like the Nahel bond, then, firstly, given her level of intelligence, she must have been bonded to someone for quite a while at this point (which rules out the listeners). And secondly, that person must be nearby in order for her to retain her sapience. But then how is it that we haven't seen this person? Well, the person in question has to be a Voidbinder, so an obvious possibility is that they are hiding themself by the use of Voidbinding. However, as we basically know nothing of what Voidbinding can do, I'll refrain from speculating on the precise mechanism that they are using to do that. Another possibility is that the Voidspren bond does not work precisely like the Nahel bond. Perhaps the way that the Radiantspren slowly awake to sapience is the result of Cultivation's influence, and in a system in which Cultivation plays no part, the spren instead awaken to full sapience immediately, in which case it could be as simple as one of the listeners being the Voidbinder. Or the Voidbinder actually isn't nearby at all. This possibility is far less helpful for making predictions than the former, unfortunately. In any event, I am intrigued by the fact the spren is interested in Kaladin. What does it say that there is overlap in the groups of people who are suitable to attract a Radiantspren, and people who are suitable to attract a Voidspren? And could it be that we have finally "seen" Voidbinding, as far as it is possible to see that which is hidden, at any rate?

We know from WoB that the Nahel bond could be amiably severed with the consent of both parties. However, during the Recreance, the Knights Radiant killed their spren. Could Ishtar/ the Bondsmiths link the Spren to the Parshmen in some way such that when the spren lost their sapience, so to did the Parshmen? Could the spren even be in on it? I imagine that being bonded to a dead spren would have effects.

So I've been wondering about what it's like to be a Returned in Idris (mostly because I'd want to read that fanfic). And I realized that, as far as I'm aware, we don't have either canon info or WoBs for, like ninety percent of it. So I'm not asking for answers per se, just informed speculation. Or baseless speculation, if there's nothing to be informed by. Or headcanons. - Is there any reason Idrians would keep a Returned's past a secret, like they do in Hallandren? Or is it, "Hey, Bob! Yeah, your name is Bob*. Also, that's your parents and your sister and your favorite dog over there." - Idrian Returned re-die at the end of the week. I'm assuming that there's not much time to go around healing people**. There's also not much time to make a long-term social difference. So what sort of task does Endowment send them back for? Do they all have visions like Vo? - Also, do Returned whose task doesn't involving giving up their Breath have that moment of recollection like Lightsong had? Or do they just muddle along? - Since Idrians are all about being ostentatiously non-ostentatious, do you think their Returned look smaller and plainer than they did when alive? - How do you think they feel about knowing they're going to shortly die again? And that if they ate Breath they'd live? Do you think they ever try to run away to Hallandren or something? *Unless Lightsong's drunken monkey of naming has a gig in Idris, too, then it would be "Hey, Nounverber the Adjective! Your name used to be Bob!" ** I suppose if they were already in the same general area as the person who needed healing, it would be possible.

Mr T is a very interesting character; in a way it's hard to classify him as a "bad guy" or a "good guy". List of pertinent facts I can think of 1. He wants to save the world - this is fairly clear from his private thoughts. 2. His plans were born out of Gavilar's visions -> ostensibly a source of good ideas 3. His apparent objective is to unit the entire world under him to fight Odium -> sounds Bondsmith esque 4. He has had lots of people assassinated and has generally sown chaos across large parts of the world on face value this seems Odium esque 5. He kills invalids/poor people in order to extract information -> doesn't seem to fit with Life before death 6. He has one or more soulcasters and two or more shardbearers under his command 7. He apparently has one or more radiants working for him 8. He has conquered Jah Kavad 9. He knew that Surgebinders would be returning 10. He wants to kill Dalinar Trying to put all of this together... His basic plan appears to be: 1. I need to unite the whole world to fight Odium BUT 2. Diplomacy would take too long SO 3. Kill all the other leaders He seems to know a lot of stuff that most people don't and even with the large library in Kharbranth the level of knowledge he has (knowing new Knights are coming and how the bonds work, knowing that the parshendi were potential voidbringers, knowing what broke the Knights before) it seems suspicious implying that he has access to a privileged source of some kind, could this be a spren? Why does he want to kill Dalinar? It seems that it may just be that he wants the whole world united under him and doesn't want a rival as fighting a war (against Odium) would be harder with mixed leadership, but in that case is he about to flip? Is he now going to throw his lot in with Dalinar to unite the world or is he still worried about competition? Ultimately I see 4 possible end results for Mr T OPTION 1: Mr T the ally - Mr T allying with Dalinar working with him to save the world, most likely as a second Bondsmith bonded to the cultivation super spren -> the one thing I don't like about this idea is that as a reader it will feel quite unsatisfying if Mr T's evil actions are never publicly revealed/punished; maybe he will be a Bondsmith but will end up being killed by Dalinar for what he's done after they work together for a little while? OPTION 2: Mr T the unintentional villain - think of Pedron Niall from Wheel of Time - a very competent character trying to do bad things for good reasons but with an end game based on having misunderstood what's actually going on who ends up doing more harm than good - this version of Mr T probably tries to kill Dalinar possibly by using another assassin; he's ultimately trying to do good but is so muddled up about how to do it that it's all a disaster - this version of Mr T would most likely seriously hinder the "good guys" plans but may ultimately have some kind of redemption scene. OPTION 3: Mr T as a pure villain - Mr T is being controlled/manipulated by Odium into doing what he's doing he doesn't know this but he's preparing the world for Odium to destroy it. OPTION 4: Some kind of hybrid, two out of the above 3 or one turning into another. So, what do you think? So, what do other people think, OPTION 1? to me that seems to be where things are hinting at the moment, I did think Option 2 for a while but there are several hints that I think make Option 1 more likely, the bondsmith like characteristics and having a radiant; though with OPTION 2 the radiant could be a fake or a dupe... Or is there something I've missed that adds another option or removes one of these?

I've never thought about this significantly, so I'll admit this is a rushed theory post. @Confusedasked me a question on my idea that Bonds are significant everywhere, not just Roshar. What I've realized in answering is that I believe all Foci are significant Cosmere wide, and are only given exceptional prominence on their respective Shardworlds. Let's break this down by the Foci we know. Nalthis: Commands. This is the most obvious example of what I mean. What are the commands of Awakening if not a specialized form of intent? We know that intent is a necessary component of almost all the magic systems. Investiture requires a mind to guide it. Sel: Forms. This one is far less obvious. The nature of Sel's focus is the structure or shape of the chosen medium. The characters of AonDor, soulstamps, and Dahkor bone runes. We have seen this elsewhere if it's not obvious. Khriss relates the rune forms of Sel's systems to the structure of the metals on Scadrial. I also think that the pattern of cracks in the spiritweb that determine which powers a person has access to are related to this as well. Scadrial: Metal. Metal is much less prevelant Cosmere wide in the magic systems, but it is still something significant to more than just Scadrial. We've been told by Brandon that metal is significant Cosmere wide, even if it hasn't been explained how. On Threnody, silver is obvious significant, and on Roshar spren can only manifest as metal objects. Nightblood is our only instance of Awakened metal and well... It's Nightblood. Roshar: undetermined. I'm in no way shy about saying that I think Roshar's focus is Bonds. This theory doesn't change that, but it also doesn't lend any credence to it. Bonds exist elsewhere, but every aspect I can think of involves a Splinter, which is essentially what Spren are. So this would work for either focus idea. Seons and Nightblood are both capable of bonding. The only idea I have for bonds that doesn't involve a Splinter is an idea that Tanavast's push for a champion implies is inherent to the Shards themselves. The champions. Tanavast implies this is a rule that will bind Odium, and as others have stated before, I believe we've already seen this happen in the clash between Marsh and Elend at the end of HoA. Both we're being empowered by their respective Shards. Champions of Ruin and Preservation. So there's my thinking. The Foci are made substantially more significant on their Shardworld. If my thinking is correct though, they are all things that are significant to the Cosmere's magic as a whole. Not just their world.

Autonomy is a popular theory for the identity of Trell, and I really like it. There is just one thing: how could Autonomy go to Scadrial? She is invested in the Taldain system as far as I know. So she shouldnt really be able to go anywhere.

I'm not entirely sure this goes here, but do we know what the titular lost metal is? My first thought, and I think the more accepted theory, was atium. Clue is this quote: "The plaque read: ATIUM, THE LOST METAL" (Pg 161 of Shadows of Self) But recently I started thinking, what if it's lerasium? It would certainly fit the Set's goal of making Allomancy more accessible to the public, and they'd probably make a mean profit in the process. The only argument I can think of that could explain an sudden atium hunt is if the Set have heard of its future predicting ability, which might've been exaggerated to the point where they'll gain far sight into the future. Now while I would love to read the look on Sequence's face when she realises it grants a couple seconds best, surely Harmony would've explained atium in the Words of Founding, and if not, they have Trell working with em. Surely it would know. Anyways, these are just my thoughts. There's a fair chance I'm wrong, and this might've been discussed to death before I got here, but I can't remember seeing anything.

Rampant speculation incoming. I want to give credit to the person who first planted the idea in my head but I can't remember what thread it was in... So here goes. So assuming that Szeth is correct, and the Stone Shamans have a way to detect an Honorblade which has had its bond severed, I believe that when Taln's Blade became unbound they detected it. I believe they would have assumed that the blade was Szeth's and set out to retrieve it. Upon retrieval, they replaced it with a Shardblade resulting in the confusion we all know about Taln's Blade. Now here's where I think things get interesting. The Shamanate has held the blades for Millenia. They would know what the Blades are, and even if they were unable to identify the blade by its form (which I think they would be able to readily dismiss it as one of the 9 they have kept in the past, ruling out both Szeth's/Jezrien's and Nale's), they would be able to know it by its surges. So the Shamanate retrieves a Shardblade that, by their beliefs should never be present on Roshar again. They realize that they have made Szeth a Truthless in error, but in an attempt to avoid panic they are trying to keep it quiet. So the Shamanate knows that a desolation is coming. Their leadership is panicking. And when Szeth arrives to confront them, I think that instead of a fight, they will offer him leadership and restoration to his name as the only man to have recognized the truth. The Everstorm obviously changes things, but considering we know the blades were swapped sometime between the end end of tWoK and Taln's arrival at the war camps, I believe they were caught as off guard as they could have been. The storm was probably most devastating in Shinovar, compared to other places. That they couldn't have prepared for, but the Shamanate would have known that they would have to fight and been trying to avoid mass panic while preparing. I think as a nation, Shinovar may be in better shape than expected.

Hypothesis: The Shin worship Odium in the same way that much of Roshar worships Honor through the auspices of Vorinism. Looking at things through this lens allows for some very intriguing and entertaining possibilities. There is very little evidence to directly support or refute the idea, and so it remains mere speculation. But the more I think about it, the more sure I am that something very, very odd is going on there. With Stones Unhallowed likely to explore that a lot more, guessing what may come is a fun game for me. I started this thread in a sleep-deprived frenzy, and am slowly getting it cleaned. Also, this is a ridiculously massive wall of text, and so I'm using spoiler tags to hide it. There are also several sub-theories that I'm developing based off of this thought that are included, which contribute to the size. Edit: Heavy edits to introduction and point 1. Supporting reasons! Problems with the idea! Thoughts? Comments? Responses? I have edited some points, in order to rectify mistakes and confusions! Thank you all who have posted so far! Keep posting. I know this is a bit ridiculous, but I find myself enjoying this idea more and more as time goes by, even if I don't think it's actually true. Adding spoiler tags just to hide some of the post and make it less likely to accidentally give someone a coma when they run into it.

I'm going to submit an idea for a shard that has no basis in any previously stated theory (that I am aware of), that is not based on any patterns or rules I've noticed in the books, that really only comes from the idea that I think this shard would be awesome. I think it would be awesome to see a hivemind shard. The shardholder can invest in a planet and create life, but all of that life would just be an extension of itself. It wouldn't have Harmony's issues with maintaining any kind of balance for free will, there is no free will, except the will of the shard. I don't know what it would be called, it wouldn't be like domination, it might be an "opposite" of autonomy. If this shard did exist, I imagine it possible that Dysian Aimians are a race created by it, in which case at least a part of the shard itself would be on Roshar. That last part falls apart a bit when you start thinking of Siah Aimians as well. Thoughts? Anybody else have ideas for shards that would just be cool, without worrying too much about how it fits into any unifying theories of the cosmere?

During my reread of TWoK, this death rattle stood out to me. My working theory is that these are the thoughts of Cultivation, reflecting on her current situation. All is Withdrawn for Me - While there's still a lot of story left to tell in the SA, Cultivation does not seem as active in the conflicts on Roshar as Honor/Odium, especially now. There are lots of magic systems going on, but the main battle seems to slate the Knights Radiant/Heralds (Honor) against the Voidbringers/Unmade (Odium). Where is Cultivation in this? Withdrawn. The One Who Saved My Life - Odium, whom Cultivation now stands against. Why? Because... The One Who Killed My Promises - Odium, who killed Honor (her promises/oaths/commitments). I'm wondering if Rayse somehow helped Cultivation's Vessel in the past (maybe on Yolen?), or perhaps there's more to the shardic interaction than we realize. Maybe Honor had become a threat to Cultivation and Odium saved her by splintering Honor. We know that Honor has focuses on oaths and binding and ideals, while Cultivation seems an intent focused on growth and progression and expansion. I Raise My Hand - a clear reference to Rayse (that's stupid) I Raise My Hand. The Storm Responds - Cultivation acknowledges Tanavast's Cognitive Shadow in the storms, who acknowledges her, however in his splintered and dead state, all she gets is the storm, which from our limited interactions with the Stormfather (and the driving insane power of a highstorm) doesn't seem super happy. She sees her lost love and longingly reaches for his hand, but gets the rage of the storm in return. Speculation. It puts Odium in a somewhat tragic place, a tragedy that I think we'll learn more about as the story unfolds (the Vessel of Divine Hatred? What a prison!). May we learn more in Oathbringer!

So ... I've been wondering this for ages now. Who the devil is the shardbearer on the WoK cover? I think it might be Eshonai (silver shardplate, red crabby thing banner) but I really am not sure. Anyone have any other ideas? Is this already a known fact and did I just completely miss it because if so, sling my body into an alien grave! Please tell me. This is killing me

Has anyone else noticed how the villain keeps moving closer to Wax with every passing book, and keeps trying to destroy Elendel? The Alloy of Law introduced our characters, and the Set's plot. The main antagonist was a person with a weak connection to Wax--a lawman that had worked with him in the past--who believed that Elendel was corrupt and wanted to bring it down. Shadows of Self featured a villain with a much stronger connection to Wax: the villain turned out to be though kind of under false pretenses, and she believed that Harmony was corrupt and wanted to bring him down, by fomenting chaos in Elendel. The Bands of Mourning continues the trend. The villain is Suit, a blood relative of Wax, who believes that their society is corrupt and is working to foment a civil war that will bring Ruin upon Elendel. With the way that The Bands of Mourning ends, there's really only one way that W&W 4 can play out: I think Elendel is finally going to be destroyed, or at least Ruined to a great degree, in book 4. I think we're finally going to see someone with the full set of Allomantic powers. (The series is called Mistborn, afterall.) With the revelations at the end of The Bands of Mourning, I'm expecting Kelsier to put in an appearance, but I'd also definitely expect to see another Mistborn, one we don't already know. (My personal theory is that there's one in Elendel already. Some people hide their Allomantic powers by pretending to be just an ordinary citizen. This person is hiding their Mistborn powers in plain sight, by pretending to be a simple Misting.) The really interesting part is the medallion Hoid gave to Wax. According to WoB, Hoid and Kelsier hate each other, to the point that bringing the two of them together would result in "murdering". So why would Hoid give Wax a medallion that gives him specific information about Kelsier? At first glance, there's really only one answer that makes sense: he knows Kelsier's about to show up on the scene again, and wants to position Wax to sabotage/interfere with him in some way. But that just raises more questions, because Hoid generally seems to have intentions that are ultimately benevolent, and Kelsier has a strong Connection to the people of Scadrial and wants to help them Survive, so if he shows up in response to a major threat, and Hoid interferes with it, that would be a bit counterproductive. Maybe the hatred flows more strongly in one direction than the other, (which their encounter in Secret History would sort of bear out,) and Hoid isn't trying to sabotage Kelsier at all, but simply to make Wax aware that the Survivor is still around, so he'll be able to accept it more easily when Kelsier shows up, and we'll end up with Team Ladrian teaming up with Kelsier (or Kelsier recruiting them into his new crew) to bring down Telsin and save the world from Trell? Now that would be a story worth reading!

I am reading through Kaladins horse session (which is fun) and that chapter features Jenet, the stablemaster. I think she got rather much description and personality for such a minor character, so Im wondering if she will have more appearances?

I was randomly browsing the Coppermind, and ended up on Tezims page. He is the god-priest of the Tukari, and their leader. Mraize mentions him at one point, and wonders if he is human. He is also leading the Tukari in a war over the city of Sesemalex Dar, against the Emuli. So, this guy sounds like he might be important, probably as an antagonist. Lets get to the speculation! Who/what is he, what are his motives, what role might he play in the story?

This just popped into my head while responding to a mega-spoiler worldhopping thread in the SA forum. The title mostly says it all. The idea is that the worldhopping colony (affectionately referred to as the Restaurant at the End of the Universe in a previous thread) is using the Yoda trick -- picking a place with a lot of investiture in this case -- to help hide their location. This could also explain why Frost doesn't mention this shard in his letter -- it kind of undercuts his point about all the pain caused if there is a thriving community there. I figure it's a long shot, but thought I would throw it out there to give the vultures something new to feast on!

This assumes facts not in evidence, and is pure speculation. That aside: We see a memory from the Sovereign (presumably Kelsier) stored in the coin Wax got from Hoid. We're also told that there are many (hundreds?) of these coins distributed around New Seran. Coins are typically manufactured to be identical. Granted, these aren't so much coins as Feruchemical medallions, but I had the thought: What if the same memory is stored in every coin? (obviously we have no idea) If the same memory is stored in the same coin, there might be a machine for copying memories in Copperminds! So, yeah. Almost completely baseless. But the idea is really cool. Suddenly news can be spread in the form of viewable/experienceable eyewitness accounts, copied infinitely without degradation (unless the machine naturally causes degradation . . .). Copyable unkeyed Copperminds have all kinds of fun uses -- sharing experiences with people, helping people learn in school, etc. And maybe Era 4 will have something like digitally transferrable memories -- you touch a Coppermind console to store them, then transfer hundreds of miles instantly to another Coppermind, where someone else can access them. Even if you can't transfer them digitally/mechanically, copper cables could form a single, massive Coppermind Internet!

Currently, the Mistborn novels have had titles that generally relate to the main object/focus of the book. So we can speculate with fair certainty that the fourth installment of the Wax and wayne books I going to deal direct with The Lost Metal. So what exactly is this lost metal going to be. There seems to be three answers that would make sense. 1. Atium: An obvious choice but it has only been gone for around 300 years, which compared to the other two choices is a short time(although 300 is enough time for Atium geodes to have regrown if the Pits of Hathsin still exist in a functional way). Another question is if Atium even forms now that Ruin doesn't exist on his own. 2. Lerasium: This is a truly lost metal since it has been nearly nonexistent since the Lord Ruler gained found it. It doesn't seem likely that Lerasium will be reintroduced. 3. Ettmetal: This metal has been lost for a very long time. On top of that it hold the power for huge technological advances for the North, which is certainly a topic the book could focus on. My bet is on this for being the lost metal. 4. Harmonium: I would include this in my likely metals but seeing as it has only existed for 300 years and nobody has ever even seen it there doesn't seem to be a lost aspect to it. It could still turn out to be this. Anyone have different ideas on metals or the focus for the next book based of which metal is the lost metal?

Part 1: So I've been on my nth reread of Words of Radiance recently, and I noticed an odd bit of detail in Shallan's Middlefest flashback: This tails a bit of purely scene-setting description, and could have been inserted as just another bit of color, as it would be if Shallan noted songlings in the trees or something. Instead it's pulled out as incongruous. The law of conservation of detail screams at me it wouldn't be there if not for a reason. Shallan has just left Hoid and her father at the dueling grounds, where Hoid took special notice of her, and she's about to encounter him again, just after she gives Wikim her math problems. Seeing it so cleanly set-up this way, at first I thought to myself, "Oh, Hoid is tailing her, obvs." And then I stopped, because if that was right, then it's a type of magic (either shape-shifting or warging) that AFAIK is totally new to the cosmere. I don't want to go that far on just a single line, but if not Hoid (and I can't shake the feeling that he would be a mink [or a sable] if he could), I believe there's something else going on there, and I'd like to know what. Any other reason for this animal to be there other than mundane coincidence? Also, are there perhaps other mentions of small animals in incongruous places in other cosmere books? Part 2: In getting my thoughts together to post the above, I began to wonder about minks in general. They're an odd sort of thing to see outside of Shinovar: squishy, unarmored, earth mammals not raised by humans. On earth they burrow in riverbanks as far as I can tell, but I guess on Roshar they must just find cracks in the stone to use as homes and Highstorm shelters. Why are these present but not, say, weasels or meerkats or prairie dogs? Oddly, a text search of my books tells me that of six occurrences in Words of Radiance and one in The Way of Kings, only once is the word "mink" mentioned outside of Shallan's viewpoint, and never when it's concerning an actual animal present in the scene. I feel like mostly that's only natural, since Shallan is the one with the natural history Calling, but a part of me wants to believe ... I don't know what. That Shallan is the Lost Queen of the Minks? Oh well. Make of it what you will! =============================================================================== Book Page (iBooks) Chapter Viewpoint Actual nml? Text =============================================================================== WoK 149 3. City of Bells Shallan Yes In a street inland of the docks, a prowling mink skulked in the shadows, watching for morsels that might be dropped. WoR 426 17. A Pattern Shallan No “A man hunting game will return with a mink if there are no telm to be found,” she said. WoR 461 19. Safe Things Shallan No No mink pelts, as his grandfathers might have worn, but otherwise very, very traditional. WoR 472 20. The Coldness of Clarity Shallan No A little like the mink wandering into the whitespine’s den and asking when dinner is . . . she thought. WoR 909 45. Middlefest Shallan Yes She was surprised to see a mink slinking in the shadows; she’d expected all those in the area to have been trapped by now. WoR 1093 54. Veil's Lesson Shallan Yes Mraize passed his blowgun to the side. The short, masked girl was there, holding the cremling that Mraize had speared along with a dead mink, a blowgun dart in its neck. No, its leg twitched. WoR 1861 89. The Four Adolin No A fanciful picture, with animals from mythology. He recognized a few from children’s stories, like the enormous, minklike creature with the mane of hair that burst out around and behind its head. =============================================================================== Side note: getting something resembling a table here was a serious struggle. Anyone have a better way?

So, I was thinking about Stormlight and stuff, and I realized something horrifyingly logical; Shallan is going to die. As of right now, the most important main character to (actually)die is Tien or Gavilar, neither of which were alive during the actual time of the books. Going just by thematic ideas, a main character needs to actually die soon. Shallan is infiltrating the Ghostbloods, an incredibly intricate organization that most likely spans multiple planets. It is definitely dangerous, and they will definitely be prepared somehow for her. It isn't to weird to think they might ahve the best of her. Now, this is where we need to put on our aluminum hats. Shallan is stuck in a love triangle. Kaladin would be restrained by his sense of honor, and Adolin might get jealous of him if he found out. Shallan, being caught in the middle, would freak out. If she were to die however, before completing the triangle, they would both do something to further push them down the paths they've taken. Kaladin would try to protect her family, since he knows they'd be in danger, and Syl would want him to do that. Adolin, however, would descend into a murderous state. We've already seen him break the Codes to kill Sadeas, and if Shallan were to die, he'd go Batman on the Ghostbloods. No second chances for them. The main point of Shallans death would be to provide a uniting and conflicting force in "The Gang", but it would also establish the mortality of the Radiants, instead of letting us believe they're the demi-gods we've been led to believe. Now I hope to Harmony I'm wrong, I really do. But it makes way too much sense for me to not to share it. Odds are, I am wrong, and Shallan lives a full and healthy life. What do you guys think?

Forgive me if this has already been suggested (I do so hate reading the same speculations again and again expressed with varying degrees of eloquence, so if someone has already said this, I sympathize people, I do!). Okay, so we know that compounding works by essentially reprogramming a metal, making it a key for a different power than usual. Basically you're using Allomancy to fuel Feruchemy powers: Source: http://www.theoryland.com/intvsresults.php?kwt=%27compounding%27 This is all known. My question is, what happens when a Compounder holds one of those fancy Cubes from the South and burns their metalminds? Say Miles burns a fully charged metalmind while holding a cube and then flings the cube into an emergency ward (or Scadrian equivalent). Would the cube heal the patients? Send out waves of healing energy? Does the cube make Feruchemy external? OR, does the healing cube simply repair itself (the dull option)? Also, Compounded-Copper cubes as "holo"projectors? Compounded-Brass cubes as ovens or heaters? Feed people by compounding Bendalloy into a cube. So many applications!

Okay to preference this, I do not want this to be true. I wish I could just set it aside and forget it but I just can't. A while back we learned that "something" was influencing Miles in Alloy of Law: (source) In the preview chapters of Shadows so far we've also seen people acting strangely. Idashwy killing a Winsting, the guard opening fire on the Governer. What do these have in common? They are all in opposition to a corrupt, largely Noble government. Does that sound familiar to anyone else? Because to me that sounds an awful lot like Kelsier. A clinical psychopath, who loves killing, especially Nobles and worked to bring down the Final Empire and Noble rule. This even ties back into the Miles question, a svrakiss is kind of a half-demon/half spirit of the dead, and what is Kelsier? A Cognitive shadow, a dead guy who is sticking around in the three realms instead of passing into the final beyond. The how of this all is something I really don't know, and I'm kind of scared to go down that rabbit hole. Again I do not want this to be true, I really hope that Shadows/Bands prove me wrong, but I just had to write this up.

Okay, so that is a bit of a leap, but hear me out. Most of this theory rests on the fact that no one - including the kandra - recognize the language of the "strange script" inscribed upon the "large metal plate set into a wall" depicted by one of the images in VenDell's slideshow. The location of the suspected shardpool in Shadows of Self was given as "the Southern Roughs." I noticed on the map of Elendel Basin that the "Southern Roughs" are just south of the Seran mountain Range. So, I suspect that New Seran is in close proximity to a geographical feature that many of us believe enables world hopping. The idea that Telsin is being held off-world is supported by the geographical features of the other slideshow images: While it seems possible that the mountains in the Seran Range are high enough to be frosty, I don't think so. I expect mountains bordered by the Elendel Basin on one side and the Southern Roughs on the other to be more like the Appalachian mountains that are just slightly cooler than the climate of the lower elevations surrounding them. Also, they can't be too tall or else navigating them to get to locations on the other side wouldn't be described so casually. Also, if the script is native to southern Scadrial, then how would the southerners know of the Lord Ruler? It seems like too much to credit the southerners with building a shrine venerating him. My only problem is why inscribe the words in metal? That seems like the behavior of someone trying to hide from Harmony, which would imply the Set and/or rouge kandra. However, if they are hiding in an off-world location, why would they need to take such precautions? Did they find a special, un-numbered metal plate left behind by the Lord Ruler or are they just imitating his method of hiding instructions from their deific enemy? Please proceed with your thoughts and/or criticisms.

So I don't know if anyone else has already mentioned this, but I think the biggest (or at least most widely applicable) implication of how Nicrosil Feruchemy appears to work concerns Twinborn with Nicrosil as their Feruchemical metal, rather than all that fiddly Fullborn stuff. Nicrosil Feruchemy appears to let you store your powers the way any other non-Copper attribute could be stored: your ability is diminished in the short term while you're storing, but returns once you're not storing. The reason I would suggest that it doesn't work like Copper is that otherwise it wouldn't make sense that the Southerners can produce useful tools like the medallions in any decent quantity; if they had to permanently burn out spiked Soulbearers to make finite medallion charge you'd think they'd just use Hemalurgy and be done with it - more direct, and permanent. So, Nicrosil works like non-Copper Feruchemy with no permanent loss one storing is ceased. We also know that if you mess around with Identity as well you can make it so anyone can tap your stored power and use it. But I'm far more interested in what you could do without Identity shenanigans, because given what we know and what we have seen, there is no reason to think Nicrosil Feruchemy doesn't work the way any other (non-Copper) Feruchemy works, allowing you to store something (in this case your powers) and then tap them to temporarily enhance yourself later. This means that a Coinshot/Soulbearer Twinborn could store their ability to use Steel Allomancy, becoming a weaker Coinshot while they were storing, but gaining the ability to temporarily become a stronger Coinshot later. If you stored enough, who knows... maybe you could do what the Lord Ruler did and push on glass! This phenomenally changes the balance of power, because it makes Twinborn with Nicrosil as their Feruchemy potential Allomantic powerhouses (but for just their metal, obviously)! Tap your Seeking and hear the thrum of Harmony's power! Tap your Oracle powers and see your future in greater detail or see further into your future! The temporary ability to enhance your powers puts me in mind of Duralumin or Nicrosil Feruchemy Allomancy... only way better! (I apologise if someone has already posted this, I do try to look over the other recent posts to make sure I'm not being redundant)

Hi guys, happy new year! I just read Chapter 3 of BOM. It disclosed the possible usage of nicrosil and aluminum in feruchemy. I believe this could be some hints on how southern people used metallurgic arts. BS once mentioned: It confused me quite a while until BOM Chapter 3. I believe nicrosil-mind is the key. Here is my speculation: Nicrosil could be used to store investiture, which includes any allomancy or feruchemy power. If someone is a F-nicrosil+A-bronze twinborn, he can store his seeker ability and tap in a short time to achieve extraordinary strong seeking power. With this power, he can easily pierce copperclod just like what Vin did under the charge of her hemalurgy earring. Thank to aluminum and Trueself, now we have some way to make use of some others' metalmind. That means, someone who is not a metalborn could achieve some allomancy or feruchemy power temporarily by wearing a generic nicrosil-mind. Productivity of nicrosil-minds seems to be a problem? Don't forget, we have compounding! With compounding, we can gain much more allomancy or feruchemy power than we stored. As long as we have enough nicrosil to support compouding, we can create many-many nicrosil-minds to support a full-born army. Nowe we can speculate what Rashed did to help people surive in the south. After his accession, Rashek must leave them a set of nicrosil minds which included most allomancy and feruchemy powers and told them the knowledge to use them. With those nicrosil-mind as "the first pot of gold", southern people should be able to mass product allomancy or feruchemy. For southern people, allomancy and feruchemy may not be a inherent gift, but the power from their nicrosil-mind equipments. However, although Rashek may leave them some nicrosil and alumnium to support the production at the the beginning, those could not be much. Nicrosil should be the most important resource in the south, as how much nicrosil they have, how many full-born warriors they can create.