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So I was rereading HoA and when Vin is wailing on Inquisitors near the end and drawing on copious amounts of mist I noticed a lot of similarities..... It says that she breathed in the mists It also says something along the lines of there was a storm inside her or swirling or raging (don't have the book in front of me) It also said it was smoking off of her skin and that she breathed it out Let me qualify by saying that I am realatively new and haven't tried to scour all theories for this, so if I'm restating something I would love a link to the discussion. If not, Is there a correlation between stormlight and the mists more than just both being gaseous manifestations of the shard? It seems pretty intentional to me. I would love to hear your comments, questions, reprimands etc.

The theory is rather simple, Shardplate is made of stormlight, made by the Radiants who use it but only available after a certain oath. I have a few pieces of evidence that support this theory, the first and in my opinion strongest, is that you can regrow shard plate using Stormlight, you can grow an entire set of plate from one piece of armour: This quote also shows that there can be only one complete set of each set of Shardplate. This supports the idea that each Radiant made their own plate, and that it is individual supports this again, it would probably also be able to reform into different kinds of armour depending on the radiant's wishes. The second piece of evidence that supports this is from Dalinar's visions, he sees a Knight's helm just appear, or at least notices that it wasn't there and then it was, It is possible that the Knight just breathed it in converting it back to Stormlight before approaching, and then breathing it back out forming it back into a helm. With those two things established on with the theory, after a Radiant swears a certain oath, he or she is then told by their spren to breath in an exorbitant amount of stormlight, this will eventually burst out of them guided by their spren and will be formed into the plate. The plate would then remain that way permanently, the Knight would not be able to or ever want to hold that much stormlight ever again (in my imagination it is not a pleasant experience). I say above that the Knight breathed in her, helm banishing it, yes that would be possible as it is not that much Stormlight, but the whole suit is a completely different beast. In the chapter 69 quote it says it takes days to regrow even a gauntlet, that seems awfully in efficient, well of course it is, it isn't the way it was designed to happen. Shardplate on a Radiant would regenerate from the stormlight that leaks from the Radiant's body. In modern Roshar shard plate is powered by Gems like a fabrial, these gems were not there whit the Radiant's Shardplate, they were added as a substitute and are horribly inefficient. I say this as this was done to Shardblades also the gem was added so that a normal human could bond the blade. We see Kaladin fuel Shardplate from his body in the duel, but it sucked all his stormlight this happened as it was not his specific set and followed the same rules as a gem fueling the plate. This theory is a lot longer than I expected but if you read it all then thank you please reply and discuss feel free to tear it to shreds, I will be around to discuss.

This is a theory borne partially out of wishful thinking. As I was reading and re-reading all of the scenes where Szeth and Kaladin use their powers, it struck me that the Gravitation surge (half lashing, reverse lashing) appears far more powerful than the Adhesion surge (full lashing). Notably, we see Szeth Lash a door closed, and Kaladin Lashes rocks to a cliff face and himself to a horse. Doubtless, the surge is used more often than that, but it doesn't seem to stand up to the powers of flight, basic telekinesis, or making people fall into the sky. Realizing that Skybreakers share the Gravitation surge was rather disappointing, since I felt like it spoiled the Windrunners' thunder to share the "best" surge (and thereby the power of flight) with another order. But then I started thinking... what if each order specialized in one of their surges and the other surge is a secondary power? Windrunners should be able to do far more with the Gravitation surge, so perhaps the Skybreakers can use Gravitation, but not powerfully enough to fly, since it is not their primary power. By this logic, it stands to reason that each order's specialization would also be the surge clockwise from their order's glyph on the chart in The Way of Kings. That way, no surge specialization would be shared by two orders. The immediate problem, however, is that from what little we know of the other Knights Radiant orders, everything seems to indicate that any sort of specialization would be the surge counterclockwise from their order glyph. Lightweavers are clearly the specialists of Illumination (as their name suggests), not Transformation. From what we saw of Lift (as well as the name of the order and the epigraph describing them), Edgedancers seem gifted in Friction, not Progression. If Ym is a good representative of the Truthwatchers, they are better at Progression than Illumination. At least, that is what came most easily to him. Renarin provides inconclusive evidence, since his self-healing could also be the passive effect of holding Stormlight. Elsecallers could go either way, perhaps. We know that Jasnah is incredibly skilled in soulcasting (Transformation). She isn't too shabby at Transportation, either. Nevertheless, since it is strongly hinted that Willshapers are "explorers," the Transportation surge would logically be their domain. When asked what order he would like to be, Brandon stated that he would want to be a Windrunner so that he could fly [citation needed]. This doesn't rule out the possibility that Skybreakers can also fly and Brandon simply would prefer having Adhesion to Division, but it is the only WoB I have come across on the subject. Thoughts, notes, relevant passages that I have missed?

The Advent of Squires. My Theory is simple: squires gain their power through loyalty to and admiration of existing Knights Radiant, Thus acquiring a bond to the Knight, rather than to an actual spren. This ability is what separates the Nahel Bond, and Knights Radiant from Ancient Surgebinders. Rules: 1. it requires a Knight Radiant in full status (all three oaths) to attract Squires. This is why Squires only started appearing after Kaladin said his 3rd oath. 2. Squires have only one oath: the first oath, shared among all orders of Knights Radiant. 3. Squires are not bonded to a spren; they derive their ability to breath Stormlight from their bond to a Radiant. (Lopen would be bonded to Kaladin, etc) 4. Squires cannot utilize surges, but do gain enhanced healing, strength, etc. from holding stormlight. Anchiently, Squires likely used fabrials to mimic the surges they lacked. Consequences: 1. The number of people able to utilize Stormlight grows exponentially, rather than logarithmically. The number of people able to utilize stormlight increases drastically. 2. The existence of Squire allows an 'introductory phase' in which a person can get used to following the Radiant Oaths, or even transfer from one order to another, prior to any spren actually agreeing to bond them. This reduces the risk of a spren being killed by lack of faithfulness to oaths. 3. 'side effects' from the use of powerful Fabrials (such as soulcasters, and other fabrials which mimic the surges) are mitigated. {Note that soulcasters, over time, gain a very odd appearance, stone-like flesh, etc. one who could breath stormlight would have these effects healed long before they manifested fully.} 4. The 17th shard may make use of Squires, allowing their world-hoppers to power their off-world abilities with stormlight. (a separate theory in its own right, but worthy of consideration) EDITED: to correct and clarify

This is to ascertain what Knowledge we have about Hemalurgy. What are it's Pros, Cons and How does it work? Pros: How does it benefit society and individuals? Cons: How does it negatively affect society and individuals? How?: What do we know about it's inner workings? Example Pro: Stormlight heals. Con: Is a limited resource. Can only be gathered in a Highstorm How: Is Inhaled by Surgebinder. I'm going to compile these facts and opinions into groups for ease of archiving. When you post could you please use the tags. Tags are as follows: Pro-for the Pro list. Con-for con list. How-for how list. Off-topic-for discussion about the posts. Theory-for something unproven but highly likely. Question-for when you think the list is wrong. This is going to be spoilertagged to separate the different Surges

Odium, Desolations, Recreance and Gavilar. Why is being a surgebinder so dangerous? Why are they the force that ‘could’ return Desolations to this world? (To quote Nale) I've wondered this, I've turned it over, and one answer keeps coming back. I call, and it comes, again. I’ll elaborate on this in the body ahead, but I sincerely hope you’ll forgive my love of long speech, I hazard a guess that others have guessed as well. The Nature of Surgebinding, Stormlight is raw surges, raw energy, it is colourless but through its use the Radiants were able colour it, and make use of surges selective to their bonded spren, like shooting light through a filter, and taking only a selection of the spectrum. It’s an analogy I like, although I’m not sure if it’s of my own device. A Windrunner Invests Stormlight, and he can bond or lash. Furthermore, if trapped in a gem, a fabrial may harness this stormlight to an effect determined by the gem. In this case, the gem is the filter. So, you can change the vessel, that is, the filter (different surgebinder, different gem) but what if that isn’t the only thing you could change? What if a Surgebinder could Invest an entirely different kind of Light? Voidlight, Voidbinding, and Gavilar’s Design We’ve seen a different Light, perhaps even, a different form of Investiture. There are hints that this exists, termed Voidbinding, but I’m doubtful this is of the exact same vein. What I speak of is Odium’s sphere. The black sphere Gavilar held. Strongly implied to be of Odium. Gavilar believed he could return the Parsheni gods, which we now know to be Voidspren, and this black sphere seems by far the most likely means to that end. Only… there’s a problem with this; a Parsheni cannot Invest. They can bond a spren, sure, and surely it is possible that Gavilar’s sphere contained a voidspren for the Parsheni to bond, but this explanation seems…mundane, and at the very least it does not match the description of the Stormspren we see in Word’s of Radiance. I have another theory, but I’ll backtrack a moment. Why was Gavilar so interested in the Knights Radiant? I've asked myself this of a time, and the answer that returns is simple, “Gavilar wanted a Radiant, because Radiants can surgebind” We've seen Amaram, who was a confidant of Gavilar, greatly desires the return of the Heralds, and I believe Gavilar is referenced as a pious man, and my bet is that Gavilar sought to begin a Desolation so that the Heralds would return. Now, he may have been manipulated by Odium, as Shallan’s father was. Certainly Navani saying that he had a darker side is some points in that direction, although hardly conclusive. He could have just been a pious man who sought the return of the Heralds through some misguided Faith. But, I digress. As I said, long speech. Now, I think that Gavilar’s design required a Radiant. A Radiant to Invest with the essence of Odium, this then, is what begets a desolation. Further Speculation on Desolations So then, we’re on the same plateau. I’m sure those of you who read this, insightful gems you are, have already guessed the implications of this. A Desolation is caused when a surgebinder Invests Odium. A Desolation is caused when a Herald breaks under torture. But breaks to do what? Well…you’ve probably deduced my meaning. We’ve seen glimpses of what Damnation is like, hooks through flesh, fire melting skim, fat and bone. Searing agony, doubly so for a surgebinder, knowing it could all stop if only they drew a little Odium into them. We’ve seen how stormlight heals and fortifies the body, I can imagine for the Heralds, surgebinders, being trapped in Damnation without access to Stormlight, but with Odium’s essence all around them. I can’t think of a better way to break them. This also explains why the Heralds bring a Desolation, they can tap Voidlight and return to Roshar, but in doing so they bring Voidspren which can then infect and/or corrupt. Only, this time, the Heralds stayed. They stayed because they were too broken to go back, and because they knew if they stayed, the Pact would hold, as long as Taln remained. Taln, who is famous for impossible last stands, Taln who, I feel, would be the last to break. I his disregard for his own life implies a lack of fear of Damnation and suggests that he wasn’t broken. Not yet, and…perhaps…not now. If Taln in Words of Radiance is not Taln truly. Shin Stone Shamanism and Recreance This, then, would explain the reason why the Shin view the Stormlight as profane. A lot of Stone Shamanism, or at least in Szeth’s experience and being Truthless, seems to relate to the return of Desolations. Surely, then, anyone who could Invest Stormlight is putting the world in peril of a Desolation. It would make sense then, that this fear of surgebinders take root, assuming the superstition to be based in some fact. If, perchance, the Radiants knew this to be true, or found it out, it would explain Recreance as well. It takes one surgebinder to bring another Desolation, to sweep the slate clean. It might well make sense. As long as the Radiants remain, the possibility of massive failure awaits, a second Desolation. Without a surgebinder, the possibility is almost nothing. Moreover, the death of the spren makes them exceedingly unlikely to trust humans again, lowering the likelihood of future bonds even more so, and it also makes sense why the last Radiant Dalinar speaks to is so morose about the inevitability of the Last Desolation. Moreover, we know there is some war when the Radiants desert their oaths. Perhaps they feared the ramifications of a losing side will to go to extreme, Odium-investing, measures. As I said, it only takes one. As a final aside, I think it is Odium's cunning that is the reason we haven't seen an Everstorm before. He had to break or corrupt the Heralds, he had to let the rot set in with people (or selectively reveal information to catalyse this) and at the end he unleashes his most devastating device. Exactly when people have no Herald, no Knights Radiant, barely a sense of unity and Parshmen in every city. That said, I'm not sure if the Everstorm is the Final Desolation, or merely an aspect of it. I could certainly imagine that this could well be Opium trying to sweep the field and pull out all the stops. The Acknowledgements of Alternates: (A Few) It then should come as no surprise that there are alternate hypothesis that some may dare to say are more credible. Certainly, Nale could merely mean what we saw in Words of Radiance. The Parsheni were, in part, pushed to become Stormform based on the appearance of Kaladin at the Battle of the Tower. The return of Surgebinders begat the return of Voidbringers. It is also possible that the Black Sphere is not the cause of a Desolation, but rather the essence of Odium that allows him to choose a champion, or something else to this extent. Midnight essence, even. I should note that the nature of damnation is also highly speculative, as is the possibility of a surgebinder Investing voidlight. Or even voidlight behaving as stormlight does. Perhaps they have radically different types of Investiture, or mayhap voidlight cannot be Invested. I do not know if Recreance ties in well with my theory or not, this is just where it has taken me, yet it feels meaningful, it feels right. I also think that it could be due to Bondsmiths getting some special insight into the death of Honour, or Odium in general just influencing some important people at the right time. Odium clearly does not need to be physically present to influence people, I surmise an Investment by Odium would be a lot like a Parsheni bonding a Stormspren, but it might not even be necessary. Thank you.

Critics Rave: "That's a very interesting way to look at it. The theory isn't all there, but it's thinking along the right lines." -BRANDON SANDERSON "a surprisingly coherent theory considering everything we don't know" -dj26792 "while I don't completely agree with the terminology you say, the ideas here are extremely extremely good." -Chaos "it's a great theory that makes sense with the Cosmere so far" -Straff Venture (before being cut in half, presumably) "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" -Observer "good theory! Well presented and excellent concept, at least." -Odiums_Shard Table of Contents: Main theory (this post) Awakening --Start of the Greate War of Nepene (~25,000 words. You have been warned) --End of the Great War of Nepene ---New Orleans of the Great War of Nepene (Hint: I'm Jackson) Start of discussion about: -Cognitive/Spiritual interaction -Spren -Hemalurgy and Memory/Intelligence To Be Discussed in Depth: -Mostly Cognitive beings -Spren -Hemalurgy, specifically concerned with Memory and Intelligence theft -The relationship between Spiritual energy and Cognitive complexity -Predictions for how Forging works. -Senses of Awakened objects Related Theories: -Forms: --Forms: Simplified --Spren as Forms --Nature of Forms & Forgery ---Spiritual Realm as a Network of Connections -Realmatic Theory, Satsuoni edition --A bit divergent, but mostly on the same tack as mine. ---- Summary of theory so you can "get it" without reading the equivalent of a paper. -Lacks reasoning, evidence, and length. The Spiritual realm is the source of all motivation within the Cosmere, from gravity to punching someone in the face. It may or may not also provide the energy to enable these actions. Every object has it's own unique sDNA which specifies how it interacts with other objects and the Cosmere at large, once again from gravity to the sDNA of a Thug allowing him/her to burn pewter. Magic depends on this sDNA and can, on occasion, change it. The Cognitive realm (the least well-defined of the three so far under my theory) is where all of the computations and permutations of spiritual rules are considered--in the context of the layout of the Physical realm--on a moment-by-moment basis. It is, quite literally, where the cogitation takes place. Alterations to the Cognitive realm can alter how objects react to certain Spiritual directives, but not the directives themselves. It may, however, also serve as a natural interface between the Spiritual and Physical realms, allowing one to indirectly affect the other. The Physical realm is where everything actually happens, changes coming about in it as an end result of Spiritual directives being interpreted by the Cognitive realm. The results of those directives then affect the other two realms in turn and go on to determine what happens in the next "cycle." Main Block (Ridiculously Long): EDIT: Actually, my explanation for time-bubbles is far too simplistic. It may be that there are some rather sophisticated methods for determining what's in and what's out of a time bubble, and we have to account for frame of reference. Ugh. I suppose the "go faster" variable could be altered as a function of the frame of reference of the anchor, with an additional "time passes this fast" variable which is altered the same way no matter what (except for relativistic effects, perhaps. . .). EDIT 2: According to a Harmony quote, the Spiritual realm definitely provides the energy. EDIT 3: Unearthed another quote, this one from Elantris. A bit suspect, due to theological underpinnings, but the first concrete "the Dor/Spiritual motivates stuff" quote I've seen. So there's the theory. Read, gush over, criticize, analyze, substantiate, annihilate, and permutate to your hearts' content.

Alright, this is my first theory here. Be gentle! I think it's possible that all the orders of the Knights Radiant has access to Soulcasting along with the other Surges granted by their particular order. This stemmed from the scene where Kaladin is learning to do a Basic Lash and sees Shadesmar. This bothered me and I kept thinking about it, concluding it may be possible Soulcasting to occur for other orders. This is a bit strange. It seems to imply that viewing Shadesmar was the reason that Kaladin was able to start performing the Basic Lash. But this would be inconsistent with all the other non-Soulcasting surges we've seen used for the first time in the story. Kaladin didn't view Shadesmar when he did either of the other two Lashes (Reverse Lashes while running bridges and Full Lashing when sticking the sphere pouch to the barrel). Nor did Shallan view Shadesmar when she started Lightweaving for the first time. But for some reason, Kaladin sees it here. I believe he was so metally focused that he inadvertently crossed Realms, however briefly. His experience is also very similar to Shallan's earlier in the book. Shallan hovers between the Realms, much like Kaladin did. Kaladin sees Shadesmar but still is aware of Sigzil talking in the Physical Realm. The only two people we've seen Soulcast are of those two orders, but it's possible that it's simply a coincidence that the two who have Soulcast have access to the Transformation surge. Based on this, the requirements for Soulcasting seem to be visting Shadesmar while holding Stormlight, finding the object you wish to change, persuading it to change (be it through truth, logic or some other form of persuation) and offering the object the Stormlight as fuel for the change. All of those steps appear to be able to be accomplished without a bond to a spren that would put one in the order of Lightweavers or Elsecallers. We've made the assumption that the surge of Transformation is Soulcasting. It's even in the Ars Arcanum that way. But that document is written from the perspective of someone in-world and probably shouldn't be taken as an absolute truth (though it's probably fairly accurate in most, if not all, aspects). This would seem to imply that Soulcasting is one of the surges in the chart. But I don't think it necessarily means that. If you have access to surges, you would have access to Soulcasting due to being able to visit Shadesmar while holding Stormlight. This would mean that Soulcasting is still a subset of Surgebinding while not necessarily being a specific surge. This does, however, leave the question of what the Transformation surge is if it is not Soulcasting? It's possible that I'm way off here. If I am, it still begs the question of why Kaladin briefly slipped into Shadesmar when learning to Lash.

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

OK, tell me if this sounds crazy. There are two kinds of spren, nature and emotion. or (natural forces and concepts) Forces of nature spren are of Cultivation? and emotion/concepts are of Honor? Each Herald get's their abilities from a bond to Honor and each represents an ideal. (a concept) Each ideal granted the Herald two Surges divided up between spiritual and cognitive surges. Four got access to two spiritual surges, Four got access to two cognitive surges, and two got access to one of each. Spren were attracted to each ideal and because each ideal was a bond to Honor the spren "fed" of that bond and achieved sentience by becoming Splinters. These spren, that now each represented an ideal, started to bond with humans giving them surgebinding abilities like the Heralds whose ideal/Order they represent. (Surprising the Almighty) This would suggest that the power of Surgebinding comes from Honor. So what about Cultivation? Well I think her magic system is Voidbinding. (Binding spren that represent natural forces) I don't think that the spren involved in Voidbinding are Splinters, but I suppose they could be, but for now I'm going to assume they're not. So while Surgebinding involves sentient spren who make the decision to bond to a human who represents their ideal. I think Voidbinding works by binding a non-sentient spren that represents a force of nature to them (like stormspren) giving them abilities. =============================== OR The ideals the Herald swore bound them to both Honor and Cultivation (and the Herald's surge abilities, depending upon the Herald, are either of Honor, Cultivation or a mix of both) giving the spren that were attracted to that ideal access to the power of both Shards, becoming Splinters that way. Which would mean that Voidbinding is something else entirely. =============================== This is just something that I started to think about while reading Brandon Q&A's and I thought I share it to see what you guys think. So tell me what you think, feel free to added to it or tear it apart.

Firstly, this theory has many holes, so feel free to pick on them, or fill them in. We know that Szeth is a Surgebinder with Gravitation powers, but (as far as I know) we never see his supposed Windrunner Adhesion powers in use. Perhaps this is because he was a Skybreaker from the start. This would be a good reason for Nalan to 'retrieve' him. But you say, "Szeth has Jezrien's Honourblade!" Perhaps not. Maybe he had Nalan's Honourblade from the start (This is the hole). We know Syl thinks that It is an Honourblade, but I think that Kaladin getting Jezrien's Honourblade would be redundant. MUCH cooler for him to have a third power. There's also a lot of confusion with Taln and Dalinar, so there's a lot we don't know about them. Brandon says that you can't bond with them, and yet Szeth can summon/dismiss his (This is another hole), which may imply that he doesn't even have Nalan's. AND he doesn't have a spren, which means that he doesn't have Skybreakers' powers naturally. Am I missing anything? Now that Szeth UNBONDED his blade (according to Nalan) when he died, does that mean he lost whatever powers he had? Let's hope we get more information in book 3!

The chart that Issac Stewert created, showing the ten orders of Knights Radiant and the ten surges shows lines connecting the various glyphs. Below I have a picture with the lines highlighted in different colors: Green = Surges for each of the different orders Blue and Orange = A "racetrack" type of organization for Orders and Surges respectively - - (Although, I'm not sure. If that were the case why not keep all the Orders on the outside, and Surges on the inside? If it were rearranged that way it would look like a wheel with the red lines becoming the spokes.) Red = ...No idea. Decoration perhaps? Anyone have any thoughts on this?

I just came across this quote from Shallan.. "She paused, noticing what she’d drawn: a rocky shore near the ocean, with distinctive cliffs rising behind. The perspective was distant; on the rocky shore, several shadowy figures helped one another out of the water. She swore one of them was Yalb. A hopeful fancy. She wished so much for them to be alive. She would probably never know. She turned the page and drew what came to her. A sketch of a woman kneeling over a body, raising a hammer and chisel, as if to slam it down into the person’s face. The one beneath her was stiff, wooden . . . maybe even stone?” Is she able to draw 'truths' even though she is un aware of them? So are the sailors alive? and is the woman with the chisel the herald 'Shalash' who I believe is the woman in the WoK interlude destroying art (of herself). If so, what does it mean for her powers?

In Wor we see the amazing healing capability of both the Growth surge (the Regrowth from Lift's interlude) and the passive healing ability given by holding stormlight. Indeed stormlight has been seen to heal the severed soul links from wounds cause by a shardblade, and to straight up regrow limbs. Given that stormlight seems to be all about repairing damage and regenerating cells. What happens to the aging process in surgebinders that frequently use stormlight. Think about it, old age is just the cells in the body being heavily damaged and degraded over time due to the enviroment and cell division. Based on what we have seen so far in WoK and WoR, it should be trivial for stormlight to heal any damage to the body caused by aging. The only way i can see stormlight as not granting extended life or immortality is if it heals by restoring the body to the state that one believes themself to truely be. For example, a surgebinder will still age becuase they think they should still be aging. As in if the effects of stormlight healing are closely tied to the cognitive realm. Penny for your thoughts (not really, I don't have any pennies).

Hi all, first post here despite having lurked for a while. After finishing Words of Radiance and reading some theories being thrown around, I got to thinking of how each Surge "manifests", so to speak, and came up with a couple of ideas. 1) Cognitive and Spiritual effects of Surges From Word of Brian and Ars Arcanums (Arcana? Arcani?) from other Cosmere books, we know that forms of Investiture can be primarily Spiritual, Cognitive or Physical, so this line of thought might not even be valid reasoning. While we don't have direct contradiction, however, I will forge ahead. The more explored Surges so far have been the ones that Windrunners and Lightweavers have access to, namely Adhesion, Gravitation, Illumination and Transformation. We've also seen some Progression, a bit of Abrasion and a glimpse of Transportation. There might have been some unnoticed effects of other Surges being used, but I will exclude those from discussion unless they are explicitly shown. There has also been much speculation as to what effects the other Surges can produce. While all of those seem to have their roots in the Spiritual and/or Cognitive Realms, all of their effects seem to happen in the Physical Realm. An example of this would be a form of the Gravitation Surge, the basic Lashing, which changes the spiritual gravitational connection of an object from the planet to some other direction/location. The root of it is in the Spiritual Realm, but the effect is Physical. Now, if you look at something like the Metallic Arts on Scadrial, you will notice things like Soothing and Rioting, storing Identity, Investiture, determination, and several other effects (and stealing all of those) where the manifestation doesn't seem to relate to the Physical Realm. The AonDor system on Sel can be thought of as similar (several Aons have "abstract" meanings, such as Spirit, Love, etc, which wouldn't at first glance, be Physically inclined). Nalthis seems to be a mix, where Breath can grant Investiture to an object and Commands, convey some Cognitive aspect to whatever has been Awakened, which then affects the Physical Realm. Surges seem to be the odd one out, so far. Granted, it's early in the series, but that also allows some speculation on our part. My line of speculation is that at least some Surges have forms that we haven't seen yet, where they affect the Cognitive or Spiritual Realms. It would make a lot of sense, I think, for the Cohesion Surge to have a form where it would function possibly similar to tapping Feruchemical Duralumin, and possibly the Division Surge granting some function similar to storing Feruchemical Duralumin (or maybe the Cohesion Surge can be "reversed" like the Abrasion Surge, to create a bonding or inimical effect between people). From the Words of Radiance (the in-universe book) epigraphs, it seems like Orders such as the Bondsmiths, Elsecallers and Willshapers had administrative, guiding or ruling roles in society, or at least among the Radiants, while Skybreakers were recognizably good at judging. It would also make sense that the specific Surges of certain Orders could help them in their roles, possibly through these Spiritual or Cognitive effects. 2) Surges manifest differently between Orders This is more from a perspective of what seems to make sense, so to speak. Windrunners are purportedly the masters of the sky, flying around and being all comfortable up high. However, from what we see of Kaladin and Szeth, the only Surge they use while flying individually or fighting in the sky is Gravitation, and then only through the basic Lashing. Skybreakers, theoretically, have access to the exact same thing. Why wouldn't they be just as at home in the skies as Windrunners? Obviously the Adhesion Surge could help (decrease air pressure in front of you to fly faster, be less bothered by the wind, not have your skin flayed off by 500kph winds, etc), but that would require the Surge to work in the way we expect, and for Szeth not to be familiar with the more nuanced uses of the Surges outside of the Three Lashings. I recognize that this theory (if it can be called that) is slim, hanging from very few uses of Surges that we have seen, and one point against it is that both Ym and Lift, though being from different Orders, used Progression in the same way (Regrowth, to heal other people). But that can be explained by having adjacent Orders being able to access certain forms of the same Surges equally, but not others (eg, Skybreakers could maybe use a Reverse Lashing but not a basic Lashing). Having an off-topic comment right in the first post feels weird, but I want to make on anyway: haven't seen it mentioned in the forums yet, but my idea for one of the remaining Ideals for the Windrunners: "I will protect people from themselves, when needed." Comments and thoughts are welcomed, as seems to be the norm in these forums. I apologize for any grammatical or spelling mistakes, or oddly structured sentences and paragraphs, I'm not from an English speaking country. Cheers!

Hi all I don't think there is enough stormlight archive fan-fic around so I might upload a few of my own. Typed this a while ago on my iphone whilst I was bored at work, thought I'd share it. I know it's VERY rough, but my writing has improved since. Hope you enjoy, or at least find it readable ------------ Interlude: Ruelle-daughter-Heshyn Ruelle-daughter-Heshyn rubbed her neck again, an attempt to soothe the tempest within her head and release the weariness that hung heavy on her shoulders. Thirty three days ago they had left the green pastures of Shinovar, but six high storms, seven cities and an insane Aimian had taken their toll on Ruelle. She had once dreamed of venturing beyond the mountains to see Desh and Azir and Alethkar but now she spent her nights reminiscing on the scent of strawberries, the feel of grass between her toes and the whistle of songbirds. Not that she could recall the sound of birdsong with the persistent clamour of bells. The air rang with the clash of metal, the stone itself rang in annoyance, her head even more so. She rubbed her neck again and turned to wait for her master. He blindly hobbled his way up the Ralinsa with the aid of a long wooden staff twice his height. Ruelle had short supply of patience, maybe that was the reason she was apprenticed with the blind old shaman, but Vallano-son-Razth took an age to do anything and was stubborn as stone. The journey to the top of Kharbranth had taken most of the day and Vallano had refused all offers of assistance, often blindly wandering in the wrong direction whilst tapping the base of the staff in an unusual rhythm. "Master" Ruelle called to the stooped old man as he almost past her. "There you are young one" the old man lent on his staff and turned his wrinkled face towards her "you shouldn't wander afar, a blind old man might worry in such a big city" his face screwed up in a smile. "Yes master" her long brown hair fell over her face as she bowed "I will be certain to remember" Vallano nodded his bald head in approval and pulled his baggy amber robe tighter to ward off the cool sea breeze. Older than stone itself that one. A stoop made his height laughable, even for Shin standards. He could look an axehound in the eyes if his own would allow. "I feel a storm approaching young one" Ruelle looked at the bells above, they rang from the sea breeze, but they always rang so she heard. She didn't enjoy the idea of hearing the clamour during a highstorm. "We are almost there master" Ruelle put a hand on his shoulder "I am blind, not stupid. I can find my way to the top of a hill quite fine young one" he shrugged off her hand and hobbled past an apothecary. "This way master" she called before he went too far down the alleyway. The wind blew more freely on the final part of the Ralinsa, whether it was due to the height of the city, the thinner crowds or the highstorm Vallano claimed to be approaching she could not say but she tied her robes tighter and her hair back to stop it blowing across her eyes. The palace loomed ahead, carved into the stone itself. Blasphemy, Ruelle thought. A set of guards stood at an archway leading in to palace grounds, another handful sat behind them on a rock, gambling for spheres. She stopped and waited for her master. “Master” she called his attention “the gate is guarded. Give me leave to stonestep into..” “There you are young one” Vallano said cutting her question short, “you shouldn’t wander afar, a blind old man might worry in such a big city” “Yes master but..” “Let us not linger, we have lingered too long already today” he hobbled off towards the gate “come along young one” Ruelle rubbed her neck and caught up the old man in a few short steps. “Kharbranth is a free city young daughter of Heshyn” continued Vallano “free of war, free of Alethi scheming, free of questions. Good evening goodmen, wrap those cloaks tighter there’s a storm coming” The guards grunted. “Not for another two days old man” said one with a mud brown mustache. Ruelle stiffly walked past them at Vallano’s side. She listened as the guards continued an argument on the accuracy of stormwardens pausing long enough to stop a thick limbed Horneater entering the palace grounds. “You see young one. Of what concern is a blind old Shin, when Kharbranth is full of more menacing figures, such as that unfortunate Horneater.” She frowned, how had he known the man was a Horneater, Ruelle had begun to doubt the old man was blind at all. She looked back the guards who were shouting and making angry gestures at the large red haired man. Something caught her attention as it slipped past the guard’s feet. A crack in the stone floor, it moved erratically dodging between the feet of people walking in the palace yard. It looked like the splintering of ice or as if the ground would split open, but the cracks vanished as it continued moving leaving a trail only an arm length long. “Master” Ruelle tapped him alarmed “the cracks. They are still following us” The old man gave her another wrinkled smile as he changed his rhythm of tapping to a faster beat and climbed the marble steps, “Good”. Vallano claimed the cracks were some sort of spren. Ruelle didn’t care what it was, but she had been trying to shake it off since Vedenar. She peeled her gaze away from the weird little spren and ran up the stone steps. The hall they entered was filled with the chatter of half a dozen languages. Servants scuttled between the visitors answering questions or leading them away down various tunnels. Vallano raised his arm and a young man with black and gold hair attended them almost immediately. “How can I be of assistance sir” he greeted with a bow. “Well you could start with closing the windows, there’s a storm coming, a bad one. My old bones can feel it shaking the ground” “Not for two days yet sir” he smirked and looked at Ruelle, she cringed away from his stare. “I’m down here boy” Vallano tapped the servants head with the end of his staff. The young man held a hand to his black and gold hair and looked at the blind man in bafflement. “I require an audience with the King” continued Vallano “I have travelled far to seek his wisdom” “Indeed” the servant replied still holding his head “King Taravangian has been in private meetings all day, he regrets that he cannot attend lesser matters this evening. Perhaps you could give me your name and purpose and I will pass the request on to his majesty. He might deem it important enough to see you immediately, perhaps” “No perhaps not. I think we will visit the Palanaeum whilst we await a day when the King is less busy” replied Vallano “perhaps” “Of course, if you would like to follow me” “No that will be quite fine thank you, I can find my own way to the Palanaeum. I am blind not stupid.” Ruelle kept close to Vallano as he hobbled away down a side tunnel, the rhythm his staff made on the polished stone floor echoed throughout the hall. The servant watched them go with a mixture a bewilderment and irritation painted across his face. “We really should have given him our names, the King may have met with you given recent events" sighed Ruelle. “I had just bashed the boy on the head with a large stick. Our names would have been torn up and forgotten if we had given them to that insolent brat” grumbled Vallano. They followed the curve of the tunnel that led them deeper into the palace and away from the last of the evening sunlight, infused spheres now lit their path, hanging from wall mounted lamps. The chatter soon died away though they occasionally crossed paths with other servants. The tunnel opened into a small chamber with four smaller tunnels snaking away. “This way” pointed Ruelle reading the neat writing above the largest and leftmost tunnel. It descended towards the Palanaeum. “Come along young one” called Vallano who had already hobbled off up a tunnel behind her. “Master” she called too late as he rounded a bend. She ran on light feet to catch up with him. “Master, this isn’t the way to the Palanaeum” “How many times must I tell people. I am…” “…blind not stupid” she sighed. “Precisely. If I were searching for a book, then I would go to the Palanaeum. But we are not searching for a book are we” “No master” they had reached a fork in the tunnel, Vallano paused to tap a new tune with his staff. “We search for a King, and I say the King is this way” he pointed with his staff to rightmost tunnel and hobbled off. Ruelle followed behind until he stopped suddenly and turned around. “I change my mind. I say the King is that way” Vallano used his staff to move Ruelle and hobbled up the other tunnel. How has he not got us killed already she thought with a sigh. “And you can stop that sighing nonsense. Anybody would think a blind old man can’t change his mind once in while” he muttered over his shoulder. They made their way through an endless labyrinth of tunnels. Turning right, then left, then right, then up steps. The tapping echoed around the stone and rang Ruelle's head just as much as the bells outside. Servants only gave them fleeting glances as they past by on errands for more important people. Just as she could no longer hold her tongue the tunnel ended with a heavy wooden door that depicted the Heralds. Jezrien sat a throne in the tempest of a highstorm. Talenel fought alone in a sea of dark voidbringers. Shallash, what was Shallash doing, the majority of her segment had been vigorously scratched out. Two guards cut off their conversation as they approached. "Think you've took a wrong turn sir" called one with a gentle smile, though he kept his hand tight on the shaft of his spear "These tunnels here are outa' bounds to visitors. The Kings quarters here" "Ah, really. This is not the Palanaeum" Vallano asked, making a show at looking around confused. Ruelle knew the act, and prepared herself to move. The guards laughed and relaxed again. "Palanaeum, no, thats back that..." The guards last words cut off as Vallano hopped forward and jabbed the staff into his gut with unnatural accuracy. He keeled over, gasping for air as the blind man spun the wooden staff at his head. Ruelle was already in motion. She darted past her master and the gasping guard as his comrade levelled a spear. She inhaled, just as Vallano had taught her and felt stormlight surge into her body from nearby lamps. She easily ducked under the guards thrust and landed a well placed kick at his throat before he could readjust his position. He slumped back against the wall and held his throat. Two punches to his head and he slid to the floor unconscious. Stormlight still raged inside her body, she felt invincible. A smile let a whisp escape her mouth. "Did you kill him" Vallano asked standing over the first guard who lay sprawled on the floor. "Unconscious" "Good. No killing. And if that is a grin i can sense, lose it, it's not a game" "Yes master" stormlight escaped from her mouth each time she spoke. Ruelle gingerly opened the door and peeked down the corridor, it was empty for the moment so she slipped inside and moved to the wall on light feet. She crept to the edge of the corridor and looked round the corner. Vallano entered the corridor tapping his staff against the marbled floor. Ruelle sighed and stood straighter, she doubted Vallano knew the meaning off stealth. "Three guards approaching to our right. Seven patrolling to the corridors on our left" he whispered almost inaudibly though Ruelle couldn't see why, the echoes of his staff on the marble probably woke the Heralds themselves. "Which way is the king" "Right one hundred paces then left. He should be in his chambers." "Do I have leave to surgebind master" "Granted. Come along, no use lingering" Ruelle followed. The corridor was decorated with statues, paintings and lamps with more ornate carvings than the lesser tunnels. She inhaled stormlight from each as she passed, leaving dun spheres in her wake. She could hear the approaching guards now. Their boots echoed on the marble near as much as Vallano's staff. "...god damnation tapping" said a deep voice. "I 'ear it to" said another. The patrol rounded the corner and stopped as they saw the two Shin. A man with dark hair and light blue eyes drew his sword in one fluid motion as his two companions fumbled with their spears in shock. "I think we've taken a wrong turn somewhere" Vallano feinted, looking around "is this not the Palanaeum" The swordsman kept his stance and a tight grip on his pommel. Ruelle could see a bead of sweat running down his brow. "Very wrong turn. It's hard to trust a Shin these days. How do we know one of you isn't the assassin in white" his two companions nodded either side of him and kept their spearheads lowered. "Am I wearing white." Vallano tugged at his robe. "Alas, I must be colourblind. After all these years of believing I was just ordinary blind" "Are you mocking me, assassin" Ruelle heard a shout from behind and turned to see a group of spearmen running down the corridor to their rear. She had heard enough, not even Vallano could talk his way out of this one. "Cap'n she's glowin'" blurted one of the guards. He fell first as a statue connected with his face from a stormlight enhanced throw. She glimpsed stormlight rushing into Vallano as he burst into action spinning between the captain and the remaining spearman. She turned to the group of guards who were rushing from behind. She forced stormlight to gather in her hands until it streamed from her fingertips. Crouching she slapped her palms against the cool marble and released a flood of stormlight. The floor rippled like water and the marble surged like an ocean wave down the corridor. The guards tripped as the wave hit their knees, some losing grip of their long spears. Ruelle was amongst them in five steps, she kicked away a spear as a man stretched for its shaft and broke his wrist with a stamp. He howled in agony but she had skipped over him to her text target, the guard had risen to his feet when her kick sent his helm flying away and he collapsed in a silent heap. One man scrambled away yelling for more guards, she let him go as two others had reclaimed their footing and spears. The stormlight still swirled through her body, she glowed with power and moved with speed and accuracy to evade the spear thrusts. She ducked as one swung a spear at her head and laid her hands on the marble floor again. Stormlight flowed into the marble and the guards shrieked as they sank knee deep into the ground. She released the flow of stormlight and let the stone revert to its usual solidity. The two men scrambled at the ground trying to prise themselves free. A hand clamped down on her shoulder in a stone like grip, she turned to find the captain gazing down at her with his piercing blue eyes a stark contrast to the blood that ran down his brow. Vallano had gone she realised in panic. He gritted his teeth as he swung his blade with all his strength. Ruelle had a heartbeat to react, she lent back instinctively as the sword blurred towards her face, her fingertip touched the marble floor and she forced all the remaining stormlight from her body. The marble once again liquified around Ruelle and the captain, they slid through floor and landed with a crash on a table in room below. Ruelle reacted first, she rolled from the table and found her feet, though the captain wasn't far behind. Her body felt sluggish now that she had extinguished the last of her stormlight and the room was dark. She put the table between herself and the swordsman whilst piecing together her next move. The man was faster and stronger than Ruelle without stormlight, of that she was certain. A door banged open to her left as a man in spectacles rushed in wielding a surgeons knife. "What...who...what's going on" he demanded, he held a large sphere above his head to illuminate the room. Thank the Almighty, thought Ruelle. She inhaled and the stormlight rushed into her body leaving the sphere dun. The surgeon watched in awe as she jumped atop the table and over the captains head. She used the jump to touch the ceiling and liquify the stone. The captain tried to turn but Ruelle kicked the sword easily from his grip, jumped again and kicked off his chest with all the stormlight strength she could muster. The last thing she saw was the captain crashing into the wooden table before she shot through the liquid stone ceiling back into the corridor above. The guards still knee deep in marble gave another shriek as she appeared from the floor. "Stormfather..." one cried, emptying his bladder across the floor. Where was her master. She took off down the corridor and around the corner. Two more spearmen lay unconscious on the floor. Vallano's work. She breathed more stormlight from the lamps she passed and flung a handful at the door to the Kings chambers creating a patch of liquified wood that glowed with stormlight. She dived through and landed with a roll. The room inside was well lit and furnished. The south wall was dominated by a window that gave views of Kharbranth as the last of days sunlight washed over the city and the sea beyond. White haired King Taravangian sat at a desk in front of the window, he looked at her with kind eyes and a tired smile. Vallano had taken a seat at the desk facing the King, he looked around when he heard Ruelle panting. "Ah, there you are young one. You shouldn't wander afar. A blind man might worry in such a big palace." he said with another wrinkled smile. She had decided the old man was indeed insane. "Forgive me master" "Well come along then. We travelled all the way to speak with the good King and your wasting time breathing." "Yes master." she said as she took position at Vallano's right shoulder. This trip had been even worse than Kasitor. "My apologies your majesty." "I will pass them on to my guards" he giggled "though I doubt they will accept, having being bested by a blind man and a young girl." "They say a mans body heals faster than his pride" agreed Vallano smiling. "But please continue your majesty." "Yes of course. As I have said, my guard has been doubled night and day and I cannot increase them anymore without cutting patrols along the port. Kharbranth makes surgeons not soldiers." continued Taravangian. "If the assassin in white comes for me, there's little I can do to stop him. As you have proved today." "I understand your majesty." said Vallano, "I apologise on behalf of Shinovar, we failed to truly understand what we released upon Roshar. You have my word I will find him." "Not too late, I hope." nodded the King. Vallano stood. "Come along, young one." Shouts were coming from the corridor now as more guards raced to the Kings chambers. Vallano beckoned her to the centre of the room. "Time for us to leave young one." held held open his hand full of green broams. Ruelle took three and inhaled the stormlight filling her body with energy. "Your majesty. We thank you for your time." said Vallano as Taravangian stood. "You must forgive me for the intrusion. I am blind after all" "Not at all, its been a honour to see a Shaman with my own eyes. Two Shaman's." the King gave another kind smile. "Where are you headed next?" "My old bones are telling me Kholinar." replied her master as he inhaled stormlight for himself. The heavy doors where flung open as spearmen piled into the room. Vallano ignored them and began to glow brighter. Ruelle closed her eyes and copied her master, as she had been taught. Her body vibrated as the stormlight raged within. "There's a storm coming your majesty." called Vallano. "Don't get caught in the winds." The stone under Ruelle's feet vibrated. From the highstorm or the surge of energy within her body she could not say. But she left Kharbranth and the clash of bells behind. Her eyes opened to darkness.

Okay, so we know that Roshar has three magic systems, right? Surgebinding, Voidbinding, and something to do with Spren and Fabrials. Surgebinding seems like a pretty physical power system. Whatever the magic system with Fabrials is, it uses Spren, which are cognitive aspects. And the Void is often used as a reference to the afterlife, which i think will make it a spiritual power. Will Brandon make 3 sets of powers, one for each physical, cognitive, spiritual aspect, but with similar outcomes? Or will the outcomes be completely different? I don't know, but I like the idea of each one working with only one aspect.

2020 Edit/update: I know this post has been dead, particularly after DropBox broke all of the links a few years back (hopefully they don't do so again...), but now with Rhythm of War coming out, I figured I'd finally update/rewrite this, since I have a few new(ish) things to share that I've added over the years, and I figured I should make this whole post easier to navigate. As I said in my original post more than 6 years ago.... (it's been a long time....), I've made vectors of the surgebinding chart and others. Mainly because I like tracing things in Illustrator (when time permits), and I usually take those vectors and try to make what I hope are some cool desktop wallpapers. And every now and then I remember to try to share them around. All real credit should go to Isaac Stewart for creating all of the original glyphs. I've simply taken those designs and tried to make some cool results. DropBox - This is just my entire Sanderson folder for anyone who wants to dig around. The Wallpapers are exactly that, the Assets and Misc. includes various high-res .png and .svg vector file exports of the glyphs/symbols/etc. that I have vectored, and used to create the aforementioned wallpapers. If you want to take any of these and use them to make more cool artwork, please feel free to do so. Just keep in mind that the original artwork and designs all still belong to Dragonsteel Entertainment. Wallpapers - All of the Sanderson-related wallpapers that I have created over the years. Starting with the surgebinding chart back from before Words of Radiance came out to a few newer ones using the new space age Stormlight Archive symbol. Some are more creative than others, and some are very basic. I'll post some previews below, but use this link to download any of them in their original export quality. Surgebinding Chart: Voidbinding Chart: (credit to llwvyn for what became WP2, and for general feedback on most of these as they've been created): Honorblades: Stormlight Archive Logo(s)/Double eye: Cosmere Symbol/Bridge 4: More to come eventually/maybe. I've learned not to make commitments that I'm bad about keeping.

Ok, this is what I'm thinking after hearing what Darkness had to say to Lift about Surgebinding. What if the Heralds convinced the Knights Radiant that Surgebinding would return the Desolation and to stop that from happening they had to betray their spren to stop any more spren from bonding with humans in an effort to stop the next Desolution? What do you guys think? Feel free to pick it apart.

From this quote This definitely supports the theory that Szeth carries an honor blade. Does this also mean that Heralds cannot surgebind without their blades?

From what I've seen, Surgebinding seems to be a pretty physical form of magic on Roshar. You know, healing people, making illusions, burning things, changing one thing onto another, and changing the gravity of things. All very physical aspects. We know that Voidbinding is the second form of magic on Roshar, and that it is strongly associated with predicting the future, and is considered evil, despite Shards like Cultivation being able to predict the future, which is why I think this future prediction thing is not an actual part of Voidbinding. I believe Voidbinding to be mainly Spiritual in nature, which would explain it's evil associations. Now, WoB is that the third form of magic on Roshar has to do with Fabrials. The translations of the Navani's Notebook pictures in WoK show that Fabrials are made by binding Spren to gemstones. Spren are Cognitive aspects of things in Roshar. From what I've seen in Navani's Notebook, this almost seems like an end-positive form of Hemalurgy, but instead of killing a person to steal their powers, you are capturing a spren to copy these powers. It also seems much more versatile, capable of not only very simple objects by use of a single Fabrial, but also capable of creating the emotion bracelet by combining ten fabrials. Oh, looky there. Ten. Ten Surges, Ten Voidbindings, Ten Sprenbindings. This is a very rough and incomplete theory, so feel free to comment and tear my theory apart, or to contribute and make this solid.

Some discussion on my other theory from a few days ago got me thinking about this. Specifically, what exactly constitutes a “broken soul” and what the importance of it is in using Investiture. Spoilered to save space. What We Know About Snapping and "Broken Souls" My Interpretation of Snapping: For those of you who don't feel like reading the block of text above, (I don't blame you, it ended up way bigger than I expected it to be) the gist of it is that I think Snapping is a fundamental change of one's Spiritual Aspect, which allows them to use a Shard's Investiture. (Please excuse me if any of this doesn't make sense, I started thinking about this kind of late at night, and I wanted to post it before I forgot any bits of it.) Edit: I added some new speculation from the posts below.

karaokeang and WeiryWriter suggested that we create a database for known/suspected Surgebinders here. I've compiled every name I can think of. Let me know if you'd like somebody else added to the list or have any suggestions about the formatting. 1) Windrunners Kaladin Confirmed - Has taken the 2nd Ideal Szeth-son-son-Vallano Confirmed - Not a Radiant, does not have Nahel bond 2) Skybreakers 3) Dustbringers 4) Edgedancers Lift Confirmed - [sTEELHUNT] 5) Palah's Order Ym Suspected - Has a Nahel bond 6) Lightweavers Shallan Davar Confirmed - Has a Nahel bond Elhokar Kholin Suspected - Seems to have attracted Cryptics 7) Elsecallers Jasnah Kholin Confirmed - Unknown 8) Bondsmiths Dalinar Kholin Suspected -9) Stonewards 10) Ishar's Order Google Docs Version

So I've always been struck by how "cheerful" the "voidbinding" chart is. It's always seemed that the "surgebinding" chart is much darker and ominous. I'm starting this as a new thread because I didn't want to necro Bloodfalcon's Theory on "Voidbinding" Chart. WoB says there are 30 different magic systems at work on Roshar, or 10 with 3 different ways to access each. It's pretty easy to see the connection between the Heralds around the Surgebinding chart and Honor. I'm pretty sure that I've seen a quote about Honor "creating" the Heralds. With the Lift Interlude we know Cultivation = Nightwatcher. I believe the stained glass "Voidbinding" chart on the back endpage is really the Cultivation/Nightwatcher chart. The Surges are the same/similar and achieved/accessed via Cultivation rather than Honor. Both charts would show KR orders, and the double eye of the Almighty. Does anyone know of the confirmation via WoB that it was the voidbinding chart? or did we just assume it because we thought of Voidbinding vs. Surgebinding? edited for grammar (and an incomplete sentence).

So, in the philosophy of identity, there's a bit of a discussion as the extent to which "things" are part of us. How much is your homeland or house or favorite book a part of who "you" are? To what extent can you claim them as an extension of your self, a part of your identity as a person? Now, as I've said before, philosophy actually matters in the cosmere! There's actually an interesting discussion to be had as to whether objects gain some "sympathy" with their owners (oh, that is interesting...), but that's not what I'm looking at today. No, instead, I will look at clothes!!! You see, it turns out that (I think) your clothing is a proper part of your identity in the cosmere, at least to some extent. At least some magics operate on a level at which affecting "you" means also affecting your clothing. Examples: 1. Jasnah's combat-soulcasting. When she soulcasts the thugs, she wipes them out completely, clothes and all. She doesn't turn a man into a statue with clothes on it, but everything from hair to boots into crystal. This implies a deeper level of connection between clothes and identity because we already have fair reason to believe that soulcasting works on the level of "objects" by default: A goblet, an entire stone, etc. Shallan's blood when she was poisoned is an oddity here, but we might be able to explain that away as either Blood being an essence or Jasnah making a special effort there. 2. Lift's "Slick". This one is the one that caught my attention, actually. Lift, it seems, includes her clothing in the effect whenever she goes "Slick". I scoured the interlude to make sure that it wasn't just her bare skin, but at one point she slides full-body across the floor, so that suggests (unless she was secretly nude the whole scene) that her clothing is included. And she's not exactly a master of skill and subtlety, so I doubt that she included her clothes "on purpose" by some extra effort. In fact, I'd wager (just because) that Edgedancers can only actually "Slick" themselves, not necessarily their surroundings, which would lock in clothing as part of the self. --- This isn't 100% at the moment. For all I know, Lift makes a special effort to include her clothing and/or soulcasting is entirely based on the soulcaster's perceptions of what an "object" is. I'm inclined to believe, though, that instead people's Cognitive aspects possess a (very very weak) perception of their clothes as a part of them, and that at least some magic systems are sensitive to this perception. This might mean that clothing is included in Basic Lashings, for instance. Thoughts?