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I have been re-reading Alloy of Law over my holiday break. When I came across a specific quote that made me pause and formulate an interesting theory about Trell. Due to spoilers the rest of this post will be in a spoiler box. Read at your own discretion. Particularly if you haven't read Secret History.

In the old, pre-Lord Ruler religion centered on him he was supposed to be the god of night, right? And his showy brother was god of the day. But his followers loved his humble ways more than those of his brash brother. Trell works quitely. Whereas Ruin and Preservation had a full-blown war in full view of everyone, Trell moves quietly in the background. His (ostensible) followers in The Set do too. It may be that in Warbreaker the god Austre is actually Trell. Austre seems to have very little connection to Endowment, and Austre teaches his followers to share Trell's quiet, self-effacing ways. So Trell is the shard Modesty (that is, opposite of ostentatiousness). Do you agree?

Trell has been a character of interest in the Cosmere ever since the Alloy of Law book. There are tons of crazy theories on Trell and Trelagism, so I thought I'd share some of mine. Trelagism reminds me a LOT of the Shardworld Taldain. One one side it's constantly daytime - Dayside - and on the other it's constantly night - Darkside. In the religion Trelagism, worshipped by the Nelazan on Scadrial, they thought that night was sacred, as they could see the Thousand Eyes of Trell, which were the stars. This could be a reference to Darkside, and it's entirely possible some Darksiders travelled to Scadrial and spread their beliefs. White Sand takes place waaay before Mistborn. Trell, supposedly an Avatar of Autonomy, could have gone to Scadrial himself. In Trelagism, Trell was the stars and Nalt was the sun. This isn't something crazy, but I connected Nalt to Nalthis for some reason. Is this a coincidence or am I connecting two random things for no reason.

For those who haven't read volume two yet (what are you doing?), A regular dude named Trell shows up for one page, and is never seen again. I nearly fell off my chair when that happened. Any ideas of what this could mean?

With the knowledge that a mystery Shard has "hacked into" Scadrial's magic system and manifest its Investiture as a new godmetal, trellium. I wonder how far this extends. Could there potentially be trellium Mistings or Ferrings born in the future? We know that Preservation altered Allomancy to allow atium Mistings to be born, so it's not out of the realm of possibility. But this may be something unique to Preservation, as Allomancy was his magic system to begin with. It's possible that "Trell" has interfered with the Metallic Arts enough to add a new godmetal, but not enough so that people are actually born with the "sDNA" to use it for Allomancy or Feruchemy. Any thoughts on this, one way or the other?

I think the religion of the Purelake referenced in WoK Ishikk interlude is related to Autonomy because it has certain similarities to Trelagism on Scadrial. Both religions have jealous siblings that have to be avoided by followers when trying to worship their chosen god. The Trelagists have to worship Trell at night because the jealous brother is blocking the stars during the day. In the Purelake they can only worship in grottos, perhaps because they are underground and suffiiciently out of view of the stars/sun? I am thinking Autonomy's avatars don't always get along and compete for worshipers and attention.

DISCLAIMER: While I don't think this argument is definitive by any means, I do think the case for "Trell-as-Cultivation" is just as strong as "Trell-as-Autonomy," perhaps stronger. It sounds nutty, but honestly I think that's because people here are assuming we know a lot more about Autonomy than we actually do. I'll explain: I'm going to start with what I think is the strongest point in favor of Trell being Cultivation: the weird Hemalurgic properties of the godmetal trellium. This may seem like digression, but I promise you this is going somewhere. Trellium acts like no metal we've ever seen. From the Coppermind: That's pretty strange, isn't it? Trellium is the only metal we know of that affects kandra like that. I know there are technically the human quality-stealing metals that grant the Blessings, but this is clearly a blessing of a totally different variety. Trellium seems to work a lot like atium, in that it can steal any Allomantic/Feruchemical ability, but it only seems to do that with kandra. But what about the chimeras from Shadows of Self? Again, from the Coppermind: Another trellium anomaly! Again, we see this godmetal acting weird. What other Hemalurgic construct even approaches this level of sheer inhumanity? All the other constructs we know of are warped from the human baseline, yes, but they remain human or humanoid in some way. Steel Inquisitors are basically artificial Mistborn. Koloss are extremely buff, extremely dumb humans with a skin condition. The kandra aren't human, but Hemalurgy turns them from mindless blobs of mush into sentient beings, so you could argue that the Blessings increase their "human-ness." But with chimeras, one trellium spike gives them some unknown quality, while warping their bodies and minds into something animalistic. Almost like koloss. Only instead of being given a human quality like strength, they were given an animal quality that twisted them into wild beasts. But how to we square this with the other Hemalurgic property of trellium, giving Metallic Arts abilities to kandra? Simple: THEORY: Hemalurgic trellium is a "universal spike" like atium, but with restrictions. It can transfer any strait or ability, but only between humans and non-humans. Meaning that a trellium spike only transfers qualities if either the spike's victim or recipient is not human. They work human-to-nonhuman, or nonhuman-to-human. This is the only way I can think of to square the two abilities of trellium that we know of. (As an aside, it also ties into a theory I'm working on about Hemalurgic godmetals, but I don't even know if I still take my own side on that one yet.) Now, if we assume that my theory on trellium is correct, we have an interesting corollary on this godmetal: its powers within the Metallic Arts, from what we've seen, appear to be deeply tied to interactions between humans, the natural world, and the interplay between them. The connection between trellium's properties and the Intent of Cultivation seems pretty clear to me. We also know from the text that Trell's agents appear to be deeply concerned with order, micromanaging affairs, and long-term planning. All of this fits very well with Cultivation's Intent. Given that we also know that a Shard's Intent affects how well they can predict the future, and that Cultivation is reportedly very, very good at predicting the future, we have a Shard interfering on Scadrial who shares a suspiciously similar MO with Cultivation. MY THEORY: Cultivation is attempting to partially invest herself on Scadrial as a backup plan in case greater Roshar falls to Odium. It's probably safe to assume at this point that Odium's hatred of Cultivation has gotten personal, and Cultivation knows that if things go wrong, she's going to be the next Shard he comes after. So she's investing herself on Scadrial, using it as a "Shardic lifeboat" of sorts to ensure that she can't be trapped on Roshar/Ashyn and Splintered like Tanavast. This growing influence manifests itself as the new godmetal "trellium," whose known Hemalurgic properties seem to fit thematically with her Intent. The only real counter-argument I can think of is that Cultivation seems pretty pre-occupied on Roshar, what with the Last Desolation and all. But is that really an argument, or is it just an assumption based on what little we've seen so far? Odium is trapped by the Oathpact, not Cultivation. She may be heavily invested, but as Autonomy shows being invested on a world is no barrier to sowing Investiture other places like a Shardic Johnny Appleseed. Is this a stretch? Maybe. Am I missing something? Quite possibly, yes. But I still think this Trell-as-Cultivation theory is worth considering, if for no other reason than that it helps us look at the question with new eyes.

So I recently finished my first read through of the White Sand rough draft, and I think it may be one of my favorites. Despite it being a rough draft, it still possesses the same spark of genius that fills all of Sanderson's books. Although I think the book is wonderful, there are a few questions that I want to ask your guy's opinion on. During my read through, I first noticed a brief role played by a petty thief named Reen, though I quickly dismissed this as a coincidence, as White Sand was written before Mistborn and it would just make no sense. But later, I noticed that Kelton had a brief interaction with a worker named Trell. One could pull all sorts of things from this. Could this be the Trell? If so, what is he doing here? Could he be the Sand Lord that a certain Elorin claimed to have met? Or could this just be a coincidence stuck inside the rough draft of an unpublished book? One could go on for a while on this train of thought. So I just want to ask your guy's opinions, what do you think about the situation?

I was doing a bit of digging on trell and I looked for name meanings. I found one website that states the meaning of Trell as someone who likes to do do things their own way without anyone else's interference. Sounds like Autonomy?

So at the end of the bands of mourning before the hijacked "homeless person" kill Suit with a ettmetal bomb. (which seems odd since he was stating at the time that dynamite would be just as powerful so is there a reason they choose ettmetal that i could puzzle out besides maybe making it look like it was done by southern scadrians) Before which he says maybe you can serve us in another realm, so is cross world reincarnation possibly whats "beyond"

Era 2 corresponds to, what, the early 1900s? And Era 3 is supposed to be something like the '80s. Is the gap between Era 2 and Era 3 going to be roughly similar to Earth? Because if it's not going to be that long between them, well, E3 is supposed to have a Mistborn serial killer, right? Possibly the first Mistborn since Spook? And the women who were kidnapped by the Vanishers, Wax thinks they're being used to breed Mistborn? And they still haven't been rescued. They might never be rescued, for all we know. So say you've got a Mistborn who comes from a cultists' secret eugenics project. Wouldn't that leave the kid a little unstable? Maybe eventually murdery? Or, might what seems like a string of motiveless murders turn out to be part of some sort of Trellist Evil Plan?

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

Has anyone one else seen the mathematical theme in the names of the Set? Set: a well-defined collection of distinct objects, considered as an object in its own right. For example, the numbers 2, 4, and 6 are distinct objects when considered separately, but when they are considered collectively they form a single set Array: An arrangement of a series of terms in some geometric pattern, as in a matrix. (Think a multiplication table) Suit: Generally another name for a set. Think of the suits in a deck of cards. Sequence: An enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed. Like a set, it contains members (also called elements, or terms). Dictionany.com and Wikipedia. This nearly makes me wonder if Trell is a Shard that already embodied the concept of Harmony, Balance, or order and is threatened with another one on the scene. CRAZY THOUGHT: Sazed has multiple personalities one is Harmony and another it is Trell. I'll need to think about that one.

Hi! Kell here. I'm obviously running out of ideas… Finally reading the Alloy of Law again will definitely help. I'd normally do some weird Feruchemic theory right now but I don't feel like it. Maybe in five minutes. Anyways, forgive my ignorance but when Adonalsium reigned supreme, were there any other gods? Take Trell for example. Did he exist, or were there others? Did Raidri-- oh nevermind. Ausar and his bro Galath probably did tho Ising the I of being STORMING CURIOUS! Seeya!!

Hi folks, First post here, but I've been lurking for a while before creating my account. Background data: Trell is on Scadrial mucking things up. Odium has issues with Harmony. Autonomy has issues with religion and people having free will. Many believe Autonomy and Odium to be working together. Odium currently trapper in Greater Roshar. Autonomy is free to move abut and believed to have left Taldain, by Mistborn Era 2. Trell minions on Scadrial have glowing red eyes. At least 1 Kandra and another being type were controlled with hemalurgic spikes of a black and red marled metal. Voidbringers have red eyes and are of Odium. Parshmen/Parshendi have black and red marbled skin and are believed to be of Odium. Overall Theory: Trell is Autonomy (described by others and I agree), Odium is helping Autonomy as a way to muck around with Harmony while Odium is still stuck. Proposal: Odium helping Autonomy by providing the Void Metal or Odium metal spikes to enable her hemalurgic constructs/minions. That's why they have similar color to Parshmen, and the beings using them have red eyes like void bringers. Autonomy gets to use the spikes to muck around on Scadrial while having some "CYA" / "wasn't me" ability, and posibly use something she can't do herself. While Odium gets ways to attack/weaken/destroy Harmony without leaving Roshar. That's my idea. So what do you think and what are my theory holes?

So I was recently skimming through the shard and was thinking about Trell and Senna. We know that preservation had failed someone and i propose that that person was Senna or as we know her, Trell. I think that when Laras was about to become a shard Senna told him that he had to contain Ruin. She made him promise this. After he had become Preservation she became Justice and decided to hold him to his promise. After the siege of Luthadel happened he had failed her by letting all these people get killed by Ruin. She was really angry and flew towards Scadrial. This is the red haze we now know as Trell. She wants to enact justice on Preservation. P.S. I know that he should have called her by her shards name but maybe he never saw her when she wasn't Senna? What do you think?

I am going to start by saying this is a bit out there, and only applies if Trell is not one or more of the Shards of Adonalsium, but an outside entity of power equal to or greater than that of a shard. I believe that Odium is working with Trell in order to conquer the Cosmere. This idea comes from an analysus of Odium's personality. Odium is filled with hatred, but this hatred is directed towards those who have enough power to challenge him. This explains why Odium is seeking to splinter the other shards, as they are the only beings of seemingly equal power to him. This also explains why Odium never went after Harmony, as Harmony would be (potentially) twice as powerful as Odium. This is where Trell comes in. Trell tried to take over Scadrial, but has decided to destroy it instead. This brings up the possibility that Trell is more powerful than Harmony, or has the potential to be more powerful than him, and the only reason Trell does not just destroy Harmony is the people of Scadrial, who were not in a mindset to create chaos, thus weakening Harmony. The reason they would be working together is that Odium would likely be threatened by Trell, but Odium is cunning. A person who thinks like Odium would seek to help Trell in order to avoid their wrath, but nice their time for a moment to betray their partner without fear of loss. Disclaimer: This is entirely conjecture based on my interpretation of Odium's personality. I also basement of my ideas off of a relatively faulty memory, which means there are almost certainly important details that would make or break this theory that I don't remember.

I noticed something interesting in a SoS reread last night. At the end of chapter 7, Wax goes in to interrogate Rian, the spiked man who tried to shoot Winsting. Here's a rough quote: Two chapters later it is revealed that Rian was spiked by some unknown metal (likely trellium). In that same chapter, Wax hears a voice in his head while wearing his earring. In both cases, Wax assumes that the voice he hears is Paalm. But... does that really make sense? There's really no precedent for a person (including kandra) to talk to somebody via Hemalurgy. Isn't it much more likely that some other Shard is at work? "Someone else moves us lawman." Given the context revealed in BoM, doesn't it seem likely that Trell is at work here? In fact, I'd like to go even a step further. I'm reading this in the context of the new info released with AU, where we learned that (1) Bavadin is female (technically, at least) and (2) Autonomy is away from Taldain, meddling somewhere else. This context made the "she" stand out to me. What if "she"=Trell=Autonomy? I'm not super familiar with Era 2 Mistborn, so help me out if I'm missing something in all of this. Isn't Paalm's message and mission about "freeing" Scadrial from Harmony's control? How certain are we that Paalm is acting completely on her own here? She IS spiked by some unknown metal. Presumably trellium. Are we really sure that she wasn't (at least partially) under the influence of another Shard? A Shard who wants to divorce a planet from the control of Harmony? Remember: "Someone else moves us lawman."

This idea is probably way out there: but what if? What if Hoid has given up on instant noodles? I know he's just messing with us, but what if he's giving a clue? I dunno, let me know what you think about this idea.

"You could tell them from the way they walked... Of course the softly glowing red eyes were another sign." -The Bands of Mourning, pg 433 This is the reference to the first of the "other" Kandra. This was the most impressive part for me in the end of BoM. (Well one of three) This is tied directly to the red haze Wax observed encircling Scadrial. Harmony said it was the presence of something else, a power from beyond the planet. Now I know there is speculation that this is Odium, and I think I can confirm it. We know the void spren are of Odium. They are what make the Thunderclast and what is needed to create storm-form in the Parshendi. These forces have been described as red spren moving like lightning. The also turned the Parshendi's eyes red. Some may see this as a generalization, but there is too much consistency here. In the Song of Secrets they sing: Our gods were born splinters of a soul, Of one who seeks to take control, Destroys all lands that he beholds, with spite. They are his spren, his gift, his price. But the nightforms speak of future life... So these spren are Splinters of Odium. That makes sense. What is interesting is that he made his splinters spren. Until now, the Shards of the various worlds each have different forms of magic, splinters, and goals. However Odium seems to be mimicking Cultivation and Honor as he seeks to destroy them and all that they created. Upon reflection this seemed odd to me. Then I remembered the red eyes The Set have their own Kandra, which means they are not of Harmony. Yet here it is again, it seems that someone is mimicking the tools and followers of Harmony. There are these Void Kandra and the Set has somehow learned about Hemalurgy, and knows how to use it. Remember the dog-men who chased Wax in Shadows of Self? They were new unknown creations. The Lord Ruler experimented with Hemalurgy for 1000 years, and he couldn't make anything more than he had created during his ascension. These things are made from something who understands Hemalurgy like Ruin did and it (probably) isn't Harmony. Now the other thought is that this could be another Shard. Well that is possible, and if that's the case then we cannot know more until the next book comes out. However I hope you see that the parallels between Trell on Scadrial and Odium on Roshar are pretty apparent. So I think this is Odium's plan. He creates mimics who use twisted versions of a shard's power, using the powers and investiture of his foes. This somehow gives him an advantage and might be the key to a shards destruction, using their own power against them somehow. I doubt I was the first one to think about this, but i couldn't see anything posted on this in my search. Even so, the possibilities are endless. I wonder if Scadrial is about to face its first Desolation...

Trell is a shard we have seen before. Threnody does not have a shard on it, but it may have at one point. I propose that this unnamed shard wanders the cosmere destroying planets. Its metal is a spike that brings spiritual things to the physical, like spiking shades turns them into physical beings (red-eyed faceless immortals). This theoretical metal could also explain quite nicely how Kelsier got his body back. In the BoM broadsheet, the main story of (Allomancer Jak's woman friend, whatever her name was), she was fighting a guy who had a gun that charged from green to red, and then disintegrated a window. This might be weaponized threnodian technology. Using a story in a broadsheet as hints about future books has precedence (stories about encountering masked savages in the SoS broadsheet), and when Main Character Girl goes back to investigate the wreck of the skycar she is met by a "thin, white haired, young guy" who asks her some slightly mocking existential questions (Hoid?). The only way Hoid? could be included is if this story is based on actual events (the only reason to pay attention to a fictional newspaper story).

Yes, Trell again. I don't know if anyone have indicated the following. Correct me if my realization gets anything wrong. So here comes two quotes from TheoryLand Interview Database (Harmony bless the providers): And: And so, we got two big points: 1)Trell is related to Odium. 2)We haven't seen Odium's embodiment yet. This interview took place in 2/14/2016, when BoM had released. In BoM, we've seen Trellium, believed to be Trell's metal, even though we are not sure about who or what Intent he really is. There's quite a lot comments speculating that Trell is actually Odium. And I think it's an attractive idea as well. But in my recognition we have no evidence supporting that yet. And now, the two entries seem to tell us that Trell is actually, not Odium. We've seen Trellium, but no Odium's embodiment for now. And maybe it's Bavadin? I don't believe that. But there are still seven Shards we haven't known running outside the Shardworlds we've seen. Sometimes we just ignored these possibilities. Seven unknown Shards. Thus, I believe Trell, if a Shard, would be one of the Seven rather than Odium or Autonomy. And what Trellium looks like give me a sense that he's nothing cute, either. What do you think?

I just read this WoB an idea come to my mind: We know that Trell and Nalt was quite enemies in this Ancient Scadrial's Religion BUT: Some clue seems to point Autonomy as Trell (not confirmed of course) and if Nalt is related to Nalthis we know what Shard lives there. Autonomy and Endowment are quite opposite (maybe not as Ruin and Preservation) but their Intents are the farest I can Imagine. It's possible that the two Shards and maybe some situations between them Inspired this religion. For example Autonomy/Trell has his own single eye (the Sun) a metaphor of Individuality, while Endowment/Nalt has his thousand of eyes (the stars) a metaphor of spreading. Any idea pro or contros to this Idea/theory ?

The Set is a well defined organization with members that nearly all worship the 'god' Trell. Most of the members we have met in the Set have been native Scadrialans. For the plot of the Wax and Wayne trilogy to feel complete, Sequence and the Set obviously need to be dealt with in The Lost Metal, but I don't think the Set will be completely destroyed--only the part of the organization based out of Scadrial. The Set will continue their machinations in the background, and will be important during the Era 2 Mistborn trilogy. So far, the focus on the Set has been through Suit and Sequence, who appear at the end of Bands to be little more than middle managers. They commanded the actions of Miles, the Marksman, Irich (who called his rank 'Array'), Kelesina, and Templeton Fig. This level seems to be the lowest that actually know much about the Set. They commanded some people (Miles' robbers, Templeton Fig's grave robbing, etc.), but that's the end of the chain. All of the above people are from Scadrial. Above Suit and Sequence are 'the Series', who are a group of people who seem to care about technological advancements (Page 400): The naming scheme of the organization also proves their scientific focus: Set, Sequence, Array, and Series are all mathematical terms (though I'm not sure how Suit fits). This Series seems to be a council, very high ranking within the Set. Suit speaks to one at the end of Bands, and calls it a "Faceless Immortal." I believe they are all "Faceless Immortals"--but not kandra. The Series are not from Scadrial. At the very least they don't have any affinity for the planet, as shown by the "Faceless Immortal" that speaks to Suit (page 434): We know the Set worships Trell, and that the spike is from a Shard we know (Link). It stands to reason that the spike and the "Faceless Immortals" are from the same shardworld. Harmony hasn't said anything about the material from the spike, so it's probably not of Harmony, or something he would understand (Scadrial). From what I can see, Trell is acting entirely through agents. He isn't invested in Scadrial, so he is having people below him do what he wants to be done. This means he has to have a sizable group of people cosmerically aware enough to do his bidding. Secret History Spoilers: So, these beings can take the form of others, and are not from Scadrial. They also have "softly glowing red eyes." I believe they are a group of Svrakiss from Sel. Coppermind: I think this is close enough to a "Faceless Immortal," at least relating to the changing of forms. It at least matches Suit's understanding of the creature he spoke with. Also, someone asked back at the Salt Lake City Comic Con 2014 about Svrakiss: Clearly Svrakiss, or something equivalent, had some influence on Miles--and possibly the Set as a whole. I think introducing the Svrakiss is the reason Sanderson wants to have Elantris 2/3 written before Era 2 Mistborn (State of the Sanderson 2014): The Set worships Trell; believe him to be a god. I think Trell is related to Dominion; Trellium is Dominion's god metal. Trell himself would be someone who holds a sizable amount of Dominions power (not sure how; maybe there exists a particularly large splinter, or found a way to combine Skaze and hold their power). This person with some of Dominion's power commands the Series, and uses them to do his bidding around the Cosmere, including on Scadrial. Summary: Trell is related to Dominion; the higher ranking members of the Set are Svrakiss from Sel.

I was reading through the Words of Radiance reread on Tor.com, when I came to a line where it said that 'Brandon confirmed that the Wax and Wayne series occurs after SA5'. I had just finished rereading the Wax and Wayne series 2-3 days ago. And then it hit me like a load of bricks. Sazed is under assault by Trell and his minions who are trying to take down his planet. It was a sudden assault, and Sazed/Harmony is (as of Bands of Mourning) under a constant assault/pressure of some kind. Something he doesn't understand and that has just come recently. What if it's Odium - and what if it's because Odium is released from the Roshar system at the end of SA5. That somehow, someway, the bonds that Honour imposed on Odium, tying him down, are released at the end of SA5. Odium is cut loose, set free and goes to take on/take down Harmony. What do you guys think? Am I a truthwatcher, or just one of the ten fools?