Search the Community

I haven't dove too deep into the Cosmere (I am going to finish the books this summer), but I feel like the darksphere was more part of the Stormlight more than the expanded Cosemere. It seemed to be a negative form of Stormlight. Is it possible that it has something to do with Odium's power? If I'm missing something super obvious, please let me know so I can no longer feel as a fool. Quotes regarding the sphere... "Szeth hesitated, then knelt down and took the sphere. It was odd, unlike any he'd seen before. Though it was completely dark, it seemed to glow somehow. With a light that seemed to be black." (WoK Prologue: To Kill) "That tale always discomforted Szeth, as it reminded him of the strange black sphere Gavilar had given him. He'd hidden that carefully away in Jah Kaved." (WoK Interlude 3: The Glory of Ignorance)

Brandon recently released a statement about what he's doing this year, and in it, he mentioned that when he finished the Stormlight archive, he would write what he dubbed the 'big' Mistborn trilogy, a sci-fi one. That got me thinking, what would happen if allomancers visited other planets in the Cosmere? I imagine there would be battles, perhapse some revelations about Investiture. What does everyone else think?

Okay, so I kind of want to write the theories that come out of my head without editing them. I think it will be fun. If you can prove me wrong, please do. Major spoilers for almost every book. 1. Thunderclasts are made out of the stones themselves. I believe that the Shin actually worship them. It would explain why Szeth was pissed that the Alethi were walking on it. They were walking on his stone gods. 2. Spren of Odium are responsible for the Thunderclasts. We know that they fought in the Desolations against Honor, so they are probably from Odium. 3. Eye color probably won't change for the squires. The darkeyed officer in Dalinar's vision of the the Recreance could be a squire and his eyes were just dark. 4. Lopen will be everyone's favourite character in the next few books. That's just the most probable thing. He'll probably die with the impact of Dobby's death. 5. Taln will snap like in Mistborn and regain his cognitive functions. He will be so badass when he does and save everyone. It will be like The Tapestry when Bram comes back. (That's an obscure reference, sorry) 6. Vasher loses Nightblood in a game of chance, much like the Millennium Falcon. 7. The Returned can change their form to something non human which will be awesome to see in the next book. 8. Sazed will probably visit Roshar in the last book to wipe the floor Odium. That probably won't happen, but I would love to see that. 10. Number nine was too stupid, so let's just go to ten. Kaladin will live to see all of his family killed. This time, however he will not be drowned in sorrow because of it, but he will he good enough to move on. 11. What if Firstborn was part of the Cosmere? The Ones Above would be the people from Firstborn! It's perfect, I say! Except it's not. Tons of holes in that. 12. The cast of Friends will appear in Yolen and Chandler will give Hoid a run for his money. 13. Alcatraz found the Talent entity thing and recaptured it. He will used it to open a wormhole to the Cosmere and break it. Adolnasium was shattered because of Alcatraz. He really is not a good person. 14. I am going to theorize that you people are sick of reading these increasingly ridiculous theories and stop.

Please Note: The following is all speculation, and not necessarily correct. I could not help noticing that a number of people with the same surges seemed to have similar personalities. I'm not sure whether this has been discussed before, but here is my theory. Orders with a type of Surge in it will be attracted to a kind of personality. I have a few examples. Windrunners/ Skybreakers: Shared Surge = Gravitation Both the Windrunners and the Skybreakers seem to feel the need to uphold what they believe to be right. In the Windrunners case, it is their own personal ethics, while in the Skybreakers case, it is the law they attempt to uphold. This could be why their is anger between them, as when their beliefs conflict, both sides will feel the need to uphold their own belief. Lightweavers and Elsecallers: Shared Surge = Soulcasting Shallan Davar and Jasnah Kholin both have a keen interest in the scholarly arts. This is probably just due to a co-incedence, but what if the spren associated with Soulcasting are attracted to scholarly figures in the same way creationspren are attracted to Shallan when she creates an artwork?

So far, there are 10 Heightening that we know of. However, 10 is not a Cosmere number. It seems much more likely that the Heightening follow the Law of 16. I have no real evidence for this, despite the fact that there is no clear 16 on Nalthis. The Heightenings are achieved using Breath. Breath is Investure. Investure is Cosmere. Cosmere is Andolisium, not sure if I spelled that right. Andolisium is/created the Law of 16. Therefor, Heightenings should follow the Law of 16. However, 10 Heightenings is practically impossible, and so I doubt that the other Heightenings will be found until a long time after Warbreaker is complete. Any words of Brandon?

TL;DR - Spiritwebs mystify me. This is going to be pretty long, and I'll probably add more that I forget or leave out later. I'll just be throwing some of my wild ideas, speculations, and ramblings down here to see if anyone has any input. First off, if this has been done and discussed before, I apologize. I just needed to put all my scattered thoughts in one place. Also, if any of this has been confirmed or denied, please let me know. I need to put my wearied mind to rest. I can't recall any times when we see someone survive being used to charge a Hemalurgic spike. I'm unsure if this is because they die from the physical aspect (such as bleeding to death from having a chunk of metal stabbed into a bindpoint and such), or through the spiritual aspect. Tied to this is the question of whether someone who is used to charge a Hemalurgic spike loses all of their Power (read: access to their magic system). I assume they do, but if we took a Twinborn, would it be possible to steal only their Allomantic power, but leave their Feruchemical Power? Unless, of course, being the "chargee" for the spike is inherently fatal. I seem to recall there being mentions of preferring to use Mistborn in the creation of Inquisitors. These Mistborn clearly don't survive, but is it because they die from the physical side or the spiritual? I know that snapping is a near-literal term, in that your spiritweb receives "cracks" that investiture can now fill. I see most (if not all) of the Investiture in the Cosmere as falling into one of two main categories. 1) Your Spiritweb receives "cracks" so that Investiture can fill them, granting access to the relative magic system or 2) You are born already Invested Under number one, we have Allomancy, Surgebinding, the Returned, and Elantrians. You have the obvious Snapping, the need to be "broken" to form a Nahel Bond, dying and receiving the Divine Breath, and the Shaod (more on this in a moment). Under number two, you have Breaths, Feruchemy, and Soul Stamping. As far as I know, you are born with the ability to use these without the need for a damaged Spiritweb. I suppose you could add a third category for things such as Hemalurgy and potentially the Dakhor Monks, where you intentionally alter your spiritweb at the cost of another's. (Interestingly enough, the categories appear to line up with the net-positive/ neutral/ negative system. I'm not sure whether that applies to all magic in the Cosmere, or specifically the magic on Scadrial.) Back to the subject of the Shaod. I briefly mentioned my thoughts on it in a reply to a post, but I'll put them here as well. I have two highly speculative theories. The first is that the Shaod is/ is guided by some (more or less) sentient being/ force, perhaps like the mist in the Mistborn Trilogy, the Highstorms in the Stormlight Archive, and Returning in Warbreaker. The second is that the Dor, being described multiple times as a force trying to push it's way through the Aons, is... "corrosive" to the local's spiritwebs. That, or simply being surrounded(?) by the Dor alters spiritwebs over time. Plenty of holes in both, they're just food for thought. Sorry for the wall of text. If you read that entire thing, I'd love any thoughts, ideas, counter-theories, or suggestions. (I'll add in supporting quotes from the texts, WOB, and other theories when my brain isn't melting out of my head.)

So I thought it might be fun for everyone who's already read through the series to see what I think might come to pass after reading the Eye of the World for the first time. I know I enjoy hearing what people think about books and series as they are going through them. First, I want to say that I'm very frustrated, as I had a lot of theories coming through the book that were pretty much confirmed by the end. For instance the Lan/Nynaeve relationship budding, Rand being the dragon reborn, Thom Merrilin not being dead, Rand using the one power. (I caught that after learning about the symptoms from touching the one power, putting that together with the scene in Baerlon, when he got lightheaded talking to the Children of the Light.) I had assumed that Moiraine was the missing queen from Camelyn, but the end chapter for her paints a different story. So, with a greatly reduced list, here I go: Rand and Perrin will continue to credit each other on being the better ladies man, and eventually Matt will end up better with women than both of them. *Thom has been gentled, which is part of his distrust towards the Aes Sedai. *The inkeeper at the Queen's Blessing is Thom's brother, and it was his son who ran afoul of the Aes Sedai. *I'm guessing that his nephew heard from Thom what Gentling was like, He tried to resist forcing the Aes Sedai to kill him. Perrin and Egwene, (I'm trying to keep myself from getting attached to these two as a couple, after the travesty my hopes came to in Harry Potter.) Padan Fain will have a huge redemption arc. Maybe even last second. He seems to be the Gollum equivalent. Rand and Elayne. A daughter heir gets what she wants. Loial will grow into a very powerful magic user through his tree songs. I was very much struck by the power he commanded at the end of the book when he preserves the Green Man's grave. The Green Man mentioned how hard it was to keep the blight out, so what Loial did had to be some pretty powerful stuff. Loial will eventually reclaim the ways from the black wind. Again, he seems a lot more powerful to me than he gives himself credit for. Moiraine also struck me as way more powerful than she should be. I'm not saying as an Aes Sedai wielding the one power, but on a whole different level. She's wielding the three Ta'veren to basically weave the pattern herself. The Green Man was very surprised to see her twice, but she knew without a doubt that she could find him again. So she basically broke the known laws of magic, and had no doubts that it would happen that way. Lan will never develop a sense of humor. Waylaid kings take themselves way too seriously. Logain is Rand's biological father. Most of Nynaeve's animosity towards Moiraine, at least towards the end of the book, is jealousy because of her relationship with Lan. *Thom has been captured by the Dark One, but will eventually escape on his own, because he's just that awesome. (Seriously was disappointed he didn't appear again in this book. I thought Thom was the most interesting character. Being a court bard for a queen involved with Aes Sedai can only explain so much about his knowledge.) The Children of the Light may have members whose intentions are pure, but the command structure has been completely tainted by Darkfriends. *Mat's dagger will actually become an asset. He'll learn some sort of control over it, which he can then teach to Rand to stop him from going mad due to the taint on the one power. So, in conlcusion, I thought it was a great read. At first it struck me as a Lord of the Rings clone, but the elements already have diverted enough that I barely notice it, and I'm excited to see where it goes from here. I did choose to post this where I know spoilers could leak in, so I won't hold it against you if they are posted on this thread, but bear in mind I will still be reading through. I'm just starting up the Great Hunt today. Hopefully my thoughts give you guys a kick.

There doesn't seem to be a speculation page for the next mistborn novel, Shadows of Self. So I've decided to start one. First of all, many of my theories are based of the content already released. If you have not read the first 2 chapters of Shadows of Self, then read it here. OK, so it seems fairly obvious that this novel focuses on Wax, Wayne & Marasi vs. 'The Set', a group led by Wax's uncle. However, everything from here is pure speculation, but here goes. The aim of the 'Vanishers' stealing the goods was to financially cripple House Tekiel, which means that they would have probably been able to prevent the something they are trying to achieve from occuring. Then, there are the kidnappings. This is probably part of the scheme, and due to the fact that they are all part of the same Allomantic bloodline, and that they are all women, it seems likely that they are planning to 'breed' Allomancers. This means that it would be a very long term plan. I have a hunch that the climax of the book will be the wedding. The way that the wedding seems to be at the forefront of things despite super-evil uncles trying to take control of the world just makes me think that. I also have a hunch that there is a secret about Steris. The way Marasi said so confidently that Steris wasn't an Allomancer makes me think that there is a story behind it, which might come out in this novel. However, she still might be a Ferring. Now we come to Miles's last words,talking about people of 'red and gold' coming bearing 'the final metal'. What the 'red and gold' means, I can't begin to guess, but 'the final metal' makes me think that there may be one more metal Brandon has kept close to his chest. And finally, Bloody Tam's re-emergence. I have a feeling that he is a Seer (Atium Misting) who has found some Atium somehow, (remember, when Kelsier destroyed the Pits of Hathsin, it was meant to stop Atium growing for 300 years, which is the amount of time that has passed since The Final Empire, so perhaps the mines might be in the new world) and is working for the Set in exchange for... something. They're all the theories that I have. Feel free to post any of your own.

So I was listening to Words of Radiance and after finishing it, I noticed something about Venley and her scholar friends. She was really ambitious and was quite backstabby towards Eshonai and the rest of the Parshendi. No doubt Odium was influencing her in some way, but my question is how did he get her of all people to listen after all these years? My thoughts on it is that she and her friends actually found Scholar form because of it's innate ambition, and it was more easily influenced than other forms of Non-power. Epigraph on it: Scholarform shown for patience and thought. Beware its ambitions innate. Though study and diligence bring the reward, Loss of innocence may be one's fate. I'd love for this to be discussed, as I'm open to further reworking the theory if I find convincing arguments or proofs to back it up.

WoB Q: If Nightblood were on Roshar would he be a Shardblade? A: Yes, they are exactly the same thing. He is a Shardblade that is twisted and is a lot more powerful than normal. Brandon has also commented that Nightblood could consume storm light as he consumed breath, but it is a little more difficult when crossing magic systems. So let's have it! What are your theories on how Nightblood will be changed in adapting to life on Roshar? Of course he won't be a 'normal' shard blade because he isn't just a spren, he's fundamentally different; infused with shard power, but not wholly made of it. I think first of all he will keep his intent to 'destroy evil' (which will lead to some very conflict-ridden scenes with Szeth, who isn't sure what to believe anymore and is somewhat of a wild card - even thinking of himself as evil most of the time). Secondly, he will be able to cut and be blocked physically due to his physical nature, but will retain the ability to drain the shardic portions of people (like spren cutting the soul, Nightblood will drain it from a distance), thus making him more powerful than a regular shard blade As a side note: I find it fascinating that Nightblood is able to drain shardic powers like Breath and storm light, and also feed on life-force, which is somewhat different (drabs are still alive without Breath, but the life force of humans on Nalthis, for one, was created with a little bit of a shard (Preservation)). What does that say about the relationship between life and shards? Finally, he will not have the ability to disappear into the cognitive (or wherever the shard blades go) realm and be summoned back like a regular spren. He's an originally physical creation, and must remain that way. I say all this mostly because I think Nightblood is going to remain mostly the same as we know him from Warbreaker, because Brandon originally wrote Warbreaker with the intent of providing us with an introduction to Nightblood and Vasher. His powers will probably remain familiar, but just tweaked to the new magic system of storm light. This said, he is infused with shardic power. Spren of Roshar are basically living ideas that are given life by shardic power. Spren become more cognizant the longer they are bonded to a human. If Nightblood can bond with Szeth (a pretty big if) the way spren bond with Radiants, I think he would follow the pattern of becoming more aware and cognizant due to the permeating influences of Cultivation and Honor. That would make for a fascinating character development!

So, the first book was Kaladin's, Words of Radiance is Shallan's, book 3 is Szeth's and book 5 is Dalinar's. So who has book 4's flashbacks? Who would you like them to be? I think Eshonai would be a good choice for this because of her travels. I also would love for Navani to have a book. And I can just about guarantee it won't be Hoid. Sanderson is either holding that back for one of the final books, or holding that completely for Hoid's series. In that case we won't be seeing that for quite a while. Who do you think would be best to have the flashbacks for in book four?

I'm trying to track how many oaths each Knight Radiant has made, and what the benefits were at each point. In particular, at what point do Knight Radiants acquire shardblades, shardplate, and control of their powers? First, Shallan: To the best of my knowledge, we have never actually SEEN Shallan take the First Oath, ("Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination.") However, we now know that Shallan possessed an active shardblade as a child, and that her spren, Pattern, was apparently present in a limited way when she was a child. I believe this indicates that Shallan must have spoken the First Oath as a child, and that her order, at least, recieves their shardblades after the First Oath. Shallan spoke a 'Truth' at the end of Way of Kings, which i believe counted as the Second Oath. The second oath seems to have granted her access to soulcasting, lightweaving, and absorbing stormlight. Shallan spoke another 'Truth' at the end of Word of Radiance: I THINK that counts as the Third Oath, but we haven't seen any special benefit of progressing that far. I would have thought that Knights Radiant would acquire Shard Plate by the time they speak the third oath, but apparently not. Second, Kaladin: Kaladin speaks the First Oath during Way of Kings. ("Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination.") I'm working from memory, but i believe that speaking that oath seemed to give him more reliable access to stormlight, gravity, and adhesion. Kaladin spoke SOMETHING else during Way of Kings, but I'm not certain that it counted as an oath. "I will protect those who cannot protect themselves". this MIGHT be the second oath, but i don't recall Kaladin gaining any special powers when he spoke it. it's also very similiar to what WAS an oath at the end of Words of Radiance: "I will protect even those I hate, so long as it is right." Either those two sentences together constitute the second oath, or they are the second and third oaths, respectively. Either way, Kaladin recieved HIS shardblade AFTER speaking the oath in WoR. this seems to imply that different orders recieve shardblades at different times. If Kaladin still has a third oath to speak, that would be the logical time for him to recieve shardplate. We don't know how many Oaths Renarin has spoken: so far, we only know that he can heal his eyesight, and can apparently communicate with his Spren. Dalinar has spoken two oaths at the end of WoR: It's implied that he MIGHT be due a shardblade after two oaths, but the Stormfather has refused to become one. Can anyone else comment on what milestones each of the knights radiant have reached at this point, and what benefits they recieved at each point? It's also possible that my notes could be incorrect, since I'm working from memory. Feel free to correct me.

I finished the book last night (I'm still trembling), and as I read I watched theory after theory either click into place, or be refuted. I've only been active for a little while here, and so haven't read all the theories linked to the Stormlight Archive, but it sure has been fun tracking through them. For the sake of those who are just digging into the depths of the Stormlight Archive, I propose using this thread as an index to those theories; perhaps with a brief summary and a proved, disproved, or RAFO status. Some theories have been very explicitly confirmed or denied in the book, some have been more subtle. I like the idea of this thread being a place where the theories that future readers won't even wrestle with (since they'll just immediately start the next book) can have their history and the homework and speculation that went on in them preserved, instead of being buried in the forums. Discussions regarding theories should take place on their specific boards. This is just an index. It will work best if you add your espoused theories as then you can edit their status yourself, but I will do my best to begin curating them from the boards. [Mods, feel free to correct or redirect this if something like this already exists... this would perhaps be more appropriate in the general Stormlight Archive forum?]

What do we know about the 17th Shard as of The Way of Kings? We know a couple things. We know (assuming the letter was indeed written by Hoid) they're hunting for Hoid. We know Hoid left a false clue for them to chase after, which is probably good for them, because they wouldn't know what to do with Hoid if they caught him. Now, I submit that we already know of a group of people who meet these characteristics. It's us. Here at the 17th Shard, we chase Hoid around the Cosmere, trying at every stage to guess his next move so we can be ahead of them. We're probably following quite a few false clues, but that's okay, because the fun is in the chasing, right? What would we ever do if we caught Hoid? That would mean no more theories, no more guesses, no more secrets, no more fun. We don't WANT to catch Hoid. We want to chase him. The conclusion is inescapable: the 17th Sharders are, in fact, 17th Sharders. The only remaining question is which of you were the ones visiting Roshar. Hmm...

Okay, so I have a few theories that I want to propose. Some of them may be RAFO, and some are speculation (not necessarily theories) but I find them interesting and hope someone else does too. First. Are Elhokar and Sadeas in cahoots? Think about it, when Dalinar is talking to Sadeas and the king (Chapter 50) Elhokar is very insistent on Dalinar accepting Sadeas's bridges. It sounded like they were maneuvering him. Sadeas is always by the king, whispering in his ear, who is to say they had a way to get rid of Dalinar? I know in the early chapters (chapter 18) Elhokar is very foreboding about Dalinar, comparing him to his father who went insane during his last years alive. Is Elhokar in cahoots with Taravangian in killing Dalinar? Dalinar may not notice because he is too naive. Speaking of Elhokar, who were the men at the beginning of the prelude Szeth sees talking to him? The fact that Elhokar hates it when people compare him is understood, but the fact he becomes severely irate is strange. Did he have something to do with Gavilar's death? And speaking of foreboding, what about in chapter 27, when Rock is praising Kaladin for his kata, he calls him "Master Brightlord." Did Syl tell him about it and Rock know that Kaladin was a true lighteyes? Second, at the beginning of chapter 4 a Reshi chul trainer who is being bled speaks of Shadesmar. He describes it the sun he sees as "dark and cold shining in a black sky." When Shallan enteres Shadesmar, the same dark sky and distant sun are described. So, one can extrapolate, that some, not all, people when they die see Shadesmar. Sanderson explains in an q & a on Barnes & Noble[1] that there are three main realms: the physical. the cognitive, and the spiritual. Shadesmar appears to be the cognitive, but it may be the spiritual. I firmly believe the Heralds are either reincarnate in the forms of Kaladin and Szeth; Shallan and Jasnah; and Dalinar and someone else. Kaladin is the first to find his spren (spren are accompaniment to Heralds). It may also be that these characters are the Radiants alive whom need shardblades (that turn into honorblades) because the Almighty tells Dalinar "the Radiants must stand again." About Syl, notice how Syl starts following Kaladin after he kills the shardbearer. It was the fact Kaladin did not take the shardblade that made him personify honor, which is why and when Syl followed him. Syl hates shardblades. Do all spren hate shardblades? It seems that is why the Horneaters can see them, because Horneaters don't have any shardblades. If they were honorblades, would that change anything? I think the "shards men once bore" were honorshards, as evidence by their glowing. Once the honor left the Radiants (aka, the Day of Recreance) the shards became "mundane." Without honor, the blades and plate could not act as they should. It is interesting to note that Szeth says in the prologue how you cannot surgebind while wearing plate, but in Dalinar's first vision we see (chapter 19) the Radiants could surgebind (hence, why they "fell" from the sky). Maybe if Kaladin could get into plate, he could surgebind? Also note that, as I speculated above, Szeth may be a Herald, or Radiant, reincarnate. If this is so, the reason he hasn't found his spren, unlike Kaladin, is because he acts without a key ingredient. I do not know what this is; it may be honor or something else. Speaking of Szeth's honor, in the prologue we assume Szeth became Truthless because of his belief in the voidbringers. Whether that belief manifested itself into a resistance, or was merely heretical to Shin religion is up to debate. When Gavilar said "find the most important words a man can say," did he mean the Radiants codes? (May be why the next book is "Words of Radiance" because Dalinar finds them). When the Almighty tells Dalinar to "unite them" who is he talking about? Is he telling whoever (it just so happens to be Dalinar) to unite Alethkar or is it something more than that. Does he mean unite the people of Roshar? Maybe. I think he means Dalinar, or whoever because he doesn't know who's listening, to unite the Lost Radiants into a new Knights Radiant. This would bring back honor to them, especially if they follow the Codes and the Radiants Codes, and allow them to surgebind with shardplate 'n' stuff. Essential, have the shards become honorplates and blades. So, stormlight infuses itself into the spheres at a definite point during a highstorm. This is evident when Kaladin is in the highstorm. If the stormlight infused spheres throughout the storm, in duration, the sphere Kaladin held would still be lit (because the highstorm was not finished when he blacked out). That being said, is it possible to surgebind during a highstorm? I understand the human body may not hold it or even it may become overloaded. If it is overloaded that raises the question can you control how much stormlight you breathe in? I know you can control how much breath you inhale, but do you also control the amount of the stormlight itself that enters? Even so, I wonder if Kaladin and Szeth have the ability to surgebind unlimitedly during a highstorm, as long as they stay safe. Now here is a tricky one. It is based on speculation from a reading Sanderson did from a draft of "Words of Radiance" before it was called that. The taping took place before Christmas of 2012. After you hear it, come back and I'll say something I've been thinking. [2] So Sanderson states that Parshendi are that way because they bond to a spren. He may change that later or he may not, but it is interesting to note that the Parshendi need the gemhearts. Why is that? Alethi assume for soulcasting, but what if it is for some kind of religious ceremony? Isn't it interesting to note that yes the Shattered Plains are expansive, but the Alethi and Parshendi have been battling for 6 years and still there are more and more chasmfiends. Adolin notes after the chasmfiend is dead in chapter 15 that there are spren coming from it. There is also moldy smell of blood of the chasmfiend, also of the Parshendi. Could the chasmfiends be Parshendi that have evolved into a hulking monster? Eshonai talks of different forms that form different bodies. Perhaps the most revered place in Parshendi is to become a chasmfiend? The chasmfiends may become uncontrollable and turn hostile, which is why the Parshendi don't have any in reserve. That's all I got! But stay tuned for more! References [1] http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Fantasy-Science-Fiction/Post-Questions-For-Brandon-Sanderson-Here/td-p/354645/page/3 About halfway through (try ctrl + f and type "three;" it should be on there after a couple) [2] https://soundcloud.com/stringbean1982/brandons-reading Sanderson begins Stormlight talking about 8:53 and reading at 12:10