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  1. Apologies if this is an old idea - it's new to me! I just read a theory on Reddit discussing how Taravangian was set up to be Dalinar's foil, and how well that fits with him taking up Odium and Dalinar seemingly being on a path towards reclaiming Honor (or something like that, at least). We know that Cultivation had a hand in both Taravangian's Ascension and Dalinar's journey, by interacting with them both directly when they visited the Nightwatcher. We also know of one other person who interacted with Cultivation directly - Lift. My theory is that Cultivation, in addition to preparing Taravangian to take up Odium (confirmed) and Dalinar to take up Honor (suspected), is also preparing Lift to be her own successor. Evidence in favour of this, in addition to the above pattern, that I can think of off the top of my head: Lift's character so far is based very strongly on the idea of not changing, which is more or less the antithesis of Cultivation's Intent. As we've seen, she is changing despite her best efforts and pleas to Cultivation. This seems to set the stage very nicely for an interesting character arc. She has bonded a Cultivationspren. She can metabolise food directly into Lifelight - Cultivation's light. There might be more, or I could be completely wrong. But I found it interesting to think about nevertheless, and I hope you do too!
  2. Stomlight/Mistborn era 1/2 spoilers in here. Had this theory stewing for a while and wanted to get it off my chest. Disclaimer: I'm not fully up to speed on all WoBs/interviews and the main theories present from people. I'm also not going all out with finding quotes here, though I'm pretty sure you can do that. So, the basis of my theory is that either era 4 or the back half of the stormlight archive will focus on a shardic conflict between the shards featured in Mistborn and Stormlight. Where all the shards on each side are combined: Honor, Odium, and Cultivation against Harmony and Autonomy, setting up a set of novels where there is no true 'bad guy' - both sides involve people trying to do what's best. Let's take the Scadrial side of things first. We know Harmony has issues taking action, and era 3 will likely in some part involve him morphing into Discord. The main conflict will probably be with Autonomy. I think the endgame here will feature a solution that says "Hey, ya know what might help Harmony/Discord deal with not being able to take action, or taking too much action? Let's give him a little Autonomy!" Which sets up a nice play on words - what do you think you could call a nice, harmonious version of Autonomy? Freedom! In the end, my guess is that era 3 closes with (hopefully) Sazed being a vessel for all three of Ruin/Preservation/Autonomy, and being named Freedom. Scadrial will, thus, be primarily oriented towards letting different communities in the cosmere be free to grow on their own. On the Roshar side, meanwhile, we already know what the combination of various parts of those three shards takes. We know Honor/Odium would likely be called War or something to that effect (in sprit at least; the names of the lights don't necessarily directly translate to shard names). What could War + Cultivation be? I'm going to go with Society, or Civilization, or something. The fact that Dalinar continuously gets told to Unite them can come into play too. The 'Them' in that quote continuously gets expanded - and there's no reason it couldn't continue in that way. In the end, I'm betting he unites the shards of Roshar themselves, and in doing so unites all their people's. Which sets Roshar up to be a group more focused on creating a big tent, and interacting with other worlds and such more to bring them into the fold themselves rather than letting them grow and develop alone. Which really sets up nicely for a conflict between Roshar and Scadrial where none of the people are bad, and each side has the powers of three shards. One side wants to unite and bring people together, the other side wants to let each world have freedom to grow and change by themselves. Us readers will have sympathies on both sides, having been a part of both mentalities development, and neither side is truly wrong, setting up a very nice final conflict. (As an aside, I'm not sure how or if other shards like Devotion/Sel and such play into this). TLDR: Harmony/Discord + Autonomy = Freedom, Honor + Odium = War + Cultivation = Society/Civilization. Final conflict: Freedom vs Society.
  3. I’ve been sitting on this one for about 2 years; the recent pre-read chapter from Jasnah pushed me over the edge. Let’s jump into the “evidence” such as it is: * The pattern whereby Odium kills/splinters a shard by teaming up with another shard has been well-established; we’ve just been ignoring the most available teammate because Cultivation is a “good guy”. * “We killed you” enough said. * It would fit as part of an overall goal of selecting new bearers for each of the 3 shards, including potentially Lift to replace herself. She was clearly instrumental in Taravangian killing Rayse, and by the same token would be grooming Dalinar as a successor to Honor. * Why is Hoid no longer on speaking terms with Cultivation? (Yes I know he wasn’t explicit about it - come on.) This is a pretty good reason. This is quite substantive - if Cultivation is actually trying to preserve Roshar, this should be a no-brainer to help out on - yet Hoid doesn’t even try. * Hoid’s parable of the people pushing a boulder, where he says “the person who just gives it a nudge is the most dangerous” - Cultivation is that person, and yup that would fit. * From a meta-plot, Sanderson point of view it just makes too much sense. Probably the biggest source of pushback I’m going to get is the idea that Cultivation has no motive to do this. Even given as little as we know about Cultivation, frankly that’s nonsense: Odium’s propaganda about how Honor represents calcification and stagnation would definitely ring true to the shard of growth and progression. From her point of view, oaths, commitments, and moral principles should change in response to circumstances - not be ironclad for eternity. Moreover I urge you all to stop thinking of Cultivation as a “good guy”. None - literally none - of the shards that we’ve met so far have been close to unambiguously good. Preservation was last seen regretting the death of the Lord Ruler because of just how stable his kingdom was. Cultivation is definitely going to have a dark side just like the rest of them, and my money is that this will be it. Where does that leave us? I’m not sure. We still don’t know anything that will let us parse Cultivation’s goals. But I’m pretty confident that when we get around to finding out how Honor died, she’ll turn out to have been a participant.
  4. [All Spoilers] Apologies if this is behind the times. I just finished RoW. [And am, as a result, the most sleep-deprived] POINT 1: We know that the Sixteen all came from Yolen. POINT 2: We know that there are three Yolish races: Human; Sho Del; and Dragon. POINT 3: We know there is currently only one Shard on Roshar. POINT 4: We know that dragons can shapeshift. POINT 5: Hoid said something about there being a dragon on Roshar. POINT 6: Specified that the dragon is a woman. POINT 7: And states that she hides her draconian form. POINT 8: During Taravangian's Ascension, we are explicitly told that Cult has many forms, but only one true form. So... Cultivation is a dragon. Right? FUN THEORY 1: "The Dog And The Dragon" is about Hoid and Frost on Yolen. Hoid, a poor widdle human, wanted to be all awesome like the dragons. Whether or not Dragons can actually shapeshift, Hoid acquired an equivalent ability in the form of Yolish lightweaving. He may have done other things as well. But it wasn't the same. Perhaps that is what drove him towards The Shattering. And/or towards being a walking talking museum for forms of investiture manipulation. FUN THEORY 2: We know that Lift turns food into Investiture. We know that this ability was granted her by Cult. I kind of wonder whether food-to-investiture is a dragon thing, and to affect it, Cult modified Lift's spiritual DNA to resemble the draconic. Guys I just want Lift to be a dragon. Is that wrong? Maybe! But I could still be right! FUN THEORY 3: Cultivation's Vessel is named Fyiad. AYYO BRANDON, MAKE IT HAPPEN.
  5. Spoilers for part five of Rhythm of War. So Cultivation intentionally placed Taravangian to take up Odium. She mentioned wanting him to be able to control the shard. My question is, can he? He seems to be just a more dangerous version of Rayse at this point. He has the same goals but he's smarter and a better planner. Is this what Cultivation wanted, and does that make her a villain? The way I see it there are three possibilities: 1: Cultivation messed up big time. She thought Taravangian could control the shard, but actually he's totally in it's power. He's Rayse again only smarter, and she just screwed the cosmere unless the radiants can stop him. This is probably the most likely 2: This was Cultivation's plan all along. She didn't have a problem with Odium's intent to dominate the cosmere, just with Rayse's personal desire to kill her. She either wants or is indifferent to Odium taking over and getting rid of the other shards. This could make her the ultimate villain of the stormlight archive, and is what I'm personally rooting for. 3: We have only seen 5d of the 6d chess Cultivation is playing. Her plans don't stop with Taravangian taking up Odium. Her end goal is to trap him in som e way Rayse never could have been trapped, possibly by having Dalinar take up Honor and/or by sacrificing herself and having lift take up her shard. This also seems pretty likely, but it's my personal least favorite outcome. What does everyone think? Did I miss any major possibilities?
  6. Brandon released a thoughtful and personal political statement about BLM which I appreciated. Nevertheless, I'm having too much fun posting my theories on here. This one ranges quite a bit so bear with me and as always I welcome disagreement and correction. Spoilers for Stormlight. Blackmail Theory: The Real Recreance A certain epigraph in WOR suggests that Taravangian has a secret that broke the knight's radiant in the Recreance. We then see him releasing a secret to attack Dalinar by decoding the Eila Stele. It is revealed that human's are not the original inhabitants of Roshar, they came, invaded, and displaced the singers. This causes Kaladin and others some moral guilt and we are led to believe that this is the secret that broke the Knight's Radiant. Except I don't buy it. The knights who abandoned their oaths, abandoned their fight against a mad god, gave up their super powers, and killed their best friends. I might have felt guilty if I was a knight during the Recreance, attempted to make peace with the Singers, find a way to co-exist, even some kind of reperations. I wouldn't abandon everything because my ancestors were guilty of a horrible crime. I don't really have to wonder about this. I'm a white man in the south. I think we should build a world that's good for all of us now (liberal socialism) and not hold people accountable for the sins of their ancestors. I also get that this is a self serving point of view. My own ethics aside, it is hard to imagine an ethical system that would require the Radiants to abandon their entire civilization and way of life because of their displacement of a native people in the distant past. Nor did the Radiants actually help the Singers during the Recreance they left them a broken enslaved people. Finally, the idea that humans aren't from Roshar (excluding Shinovar) can't have been that big a secret. Jasnah figured it out without help. Dalinar who though sometimes clever is not a scientist almost figures this out. Really anyone familiar with evolutionary biology would figure this out pretty quickly. Where is the human evolutionary branch? There are barely any other mammals. If that's not enough a quick examination of the fossil record would be. Scholars on Roshar had to think human's came from Shinovar at least. Perhaps this information was subsequently suppressed by Vorinism but I don't think it came as a surprise during the Recreance. Taravangian hasn't played his trump card. He was attacking Dalinar, trying to control the Knight's Radiant not destroy them. Indeed, destroying them completely would have removed his bargaining power with Odium. So what is the secret that broke the Radiants? Before we answer that, we need to pause and consider two seperate questions. First, what does the ecology of Roshar look like? We have seen that spren are deeply tied to several species of greatshells, but there are continual references to spren being involved intimately with other animals, Ryshadium, sky eels, fish in the pure lake. The spren involved with the greatshells seem to be exploiting something similar to a surge of gravitation. Can other species access other pseudosurges? Perhaps fish in the Purelake access regrowth through a spren, which explains why they can cure aches and pains. Grasses could access cohesion to help them burrow into rocks. Birds could use adhesion to glue their eggs in their nests during highstorms. Cremlings could access illumination to hide from predators. Rockbuds could use transformation instead of nitrogen fixing bacteria. The possibilities are endless. I believe that spren are tied far more deeply to the ecology on Roshar than we are aware of. Such an ecology would be far stranger than any we are familiar with on earth. Ecosystems on earth are rather strictly bounded by things like, amount of sunlight, available water, temperature, oxygen levels, and available nutrients. Answer a few basic questions about these types of things and I can predict a great deal about the kind of life you are likely to find in such an ecosystem. Not so on Roshar, spren and the surges they offer allow all kinds of work arounds to these limitations. We can expect life on Roshar to be stranger, more varied. Indeed, the spren have their own ecosystem. There are clear references to spren eating each other during the trip to Thaylen city. These sprensystems must overlap somehow with Rosharan ecosystems. We know so little about spren. What do they get out of their interactions in the physical realm? Are they immortal? Do they reform or reproduce in someway? What sustains them? What would a spren food chain look like? I don't have the answers here except to speculate that this deep connection to spren makes the Rosharan ecology almost 4 dimensional in nature. Second, how does Odium plan to kill Cultivation? He is not simply seeking to conquer Roshar. He is planning to cause the total ecological collapse of all life on the continent. This is how Odium killed Honor, he caused Honor to invest himself in humans and then he caused those humans to act dishonorably breaking that investiture away from Honor leading to his madness and death. Similarly, Odium observes Cultivation causing life to florish all across Roshar. When Odium kills all of that life he will cause her investiture to act against her intent. This is foreshadowed by the fate Ashyn, the scowering of Aimia, and Honor's ravings about the Radiants and the danger of their Shards. It is also a not uncommon theme in Brandon's other books. How does Odium intend to end all life on Roshar? This is the secret that broke the Knight's Radiant. Humans and especially surge binders are destroying and are fundamentally destructive to the ecology of Roshar outside of Shinovar. The human presence outside of Shinovar is causing a slow but inevitable environmental catastophy, not unlike global warming. Humans with their mere presence and emotions are attracting Spren and interacting with them, surgebinders even more so. They are disturbing the key element that makes the Rosharan ecology work. There are limited numbers of spren in each area, many of whom are drawn preferentially to humans. Even in victory the Radiants are destorying Roshar and Cultivation. That's why the humans were originally confined to Shinovar. That's why the Shin refuse to leave the valley of truth. That's how humans ended up harming the sibling. That's why so many parts of Roshar are barren and empty, unclaimed hills, frostlands, Aimia, etc... That's why the Radiants betrayed humanity. It was a noble gesture to save Roshar or at least forstall the end. Odium is confident in victory not because of his past record of success but because there is no path to victory. Fall before Odium's armies and he will orchestrate the systematic destruction of Roshar's ecology unopposed. Defeat Odium by using surgebinding and the ecosystem will collapse everyone will starve, Cultivation will die, and Odium be set free. (Not really, I think Stormlight will have a happy ending where everyone lives) Thanks for reading my theory.
  7. So now that Taravangian has Ascended, what happens to his boon/curse? If he is free of it, will his release from the boon/curse be his downfall? We know that he lost to Odium merely to save Kharbranth, specifically his own family and grandchildren (whom he also spared of any details concerning his political plotting). Cultivation made it so that his intelligence and empathy would be inversely related on any given day, so if he acts with intellect and empathy/passion, will he break down at the end of Book 5 because of needing to save his grandchildren in one scene? We know at the end of RoW, he's drinking in all this power and blinding everything else out, including Cultivation's offer to guide and teach him. So maybe in Book 5, we see that overwhelming amount of knowledge clear up as he accesses his deep emotion for his own family. Selfish, but it might just save Roshar—and "save them all"—from Odium. Thoughts?
  8. Cultivation was vaguely referenced in the first two books. She shows up in an OB flashback, and once in a big way in RoW. She seems to attempting to manipulate current events. She basically put Taravangian where he is. She has plans for Dalinar and Lift. However I feel like we know little to nothing of her ancient activities. All the stuff involving the Heralds and the Knights Radiant seem much more tied to Honor. The only thing I can think of is her being vaguely referenced as telling the Dawnsingers to take in the humans. Is there anything else we know of her ancient activities?
  9. What do you think of a possibility of Adolin becoming the third Bondsmith? It makes sense to me that if anyone could restore all, or a large number of Deadeyes, it would be Cultivation's Bondsmith. Adolin seems to be interested in helping more of them do what Maya did, and he remains the only major character who isn't Radiant. That would also continue the trend of Kholin becoming Bondsmiths, and of Cultivation manipulating events that bear fruit much later. Maybe she removed Dalinar's memory of Evi in part to make him a more nurturing father to her future Bondsmith. Maya is a cultivation spren as well, so there's a connection there. I'm aware that this is just speculation, but I thought it was fun. Also sorry if this was already discussed before but I haven't found anything.
  10. I recently had a brain wave, Preservation was unable to destroy anything due to his Shards Intent, could the same be for Cultivation? Could the reason for Cultivation to take such indirect actions for vengeance against Odium and also not simply having his Shard Splintered once Rayse died be because she is only able to Cultivate? Could she be only able to prune, not kill?
  11. I’m going to sketch out this theory and maybe get around to providing quotes and stuff to substantiate it later. And I don’t love time travel mechanics. Just too messy. So I’m not thrilled with where the evidence is leading me. But a couple of thoughts, all paraphrased: * Cultivation to TOdium: “you’ve been on this path for a long time” - ie before you asked for a boon from me - “I just tried to help you learn to wield the power with honor.” This is in response to TOdium shocked that she would try something so audacious like putting him in position to because Odium - which would absolutely include the Diagram. In other words, the Diagram was NOT part of her boon+curse. I take this to be explicit in the text - that T’s path to TOdium-hood started long before Cultivation got involved directly, and that that path kicked off with the Diagram * Speaking of the Diagram, Taravangian: “thinking that the Diagram was about anything more than saving Kharbranth was dangerous.” Dangerous why? I think we know the answer especially when we reach T’s last days: “he cried over the lies [about trying to make utilitarian sacrifices to save a seed of humanity] he told Dalinar - because the truth was much more shameful”. Yeah the truth - namely that you were doing all this with the goal of usurping Odium - is pretty shameful. Finally, there’s that moment that I’m struggling to recall in detail where he says “you don’t understand, Odium sets things up so that if he loses, he still wins.” Does that sound like the Odium we know? L O L. Our Odium loses without winning left and right. Our Odium is almost a beautiful loser: he prioritizes sending a message about doing things his way over actually winning. (This was during his last conversation with Dalinar.) You know who sets things up so that if he loses, he wins? In fact you might say “the only way to agree to a deal is to make sure that no matter the outcome you are satisfied”? That level of craftiness I’ve only seen from T - especially as TOdium, when he makes fun of Odium’s foolishness and says this! One more related piece of evidence: the epigraphs in WoR: ”You must become King. Of Everything.” 1) Taravangian was still able to achieve his primary goal without being king of more than Jah Keved 2) Everything contains quite a bit more than Roshar! But it is consistent with trying to save the entire Cosmere from incompetent shards, and waging a “war for everything”. “You must destroy the Parshendi if this one starts to explore their powers it will form a bridge” Why destroy the Parshendi if they might form a bridge between the Singers and the Listeners? That would be bad for Odium if he loses the Singers as an ally! But it would be GOOD for TOdium who clearly does not want whatever is happening between Leshwi, Venli, Thude, Rlain (+Renarin perhaps), Sja-Anat, and their associated followers - very bridge-like. At a minimum, the Diagram contains information about Odium with Taravangian as the vessel. But I would go so far as to say that the Diagram was a vision Taravangian got of himself - not Rayse Odium - from the future, and that Cultivation was certainly not involved.
  12. This is a theory I've been chewing on for a while but haven't wanted to post because I haven't had the time to put all the pieces together. Anyway, here goes: SPOILERS THROUGH RHYTHM OF WAR (I think) TLDR Ba Ado Mishram was the child of Honor and Cultivation, the common ground between singers and spren. The Heralds communed with her to some degree, perhaps tricking or trading with her, and she helped them access the Surges. This violated the agreement between the human refugees that bound them in Shinovar and forbade them to use the Surges (in the eyes of the singers at least) - and was the initial spren betrayal the Fused speak of. In retaliation, the singers went to Odium and became the Fused, sparking the first Desolation. The Heralds went to Honor and forged the Oathpact to enable them to fight the Fused and seal them in Braize. In the course of the war, the Fused were able to help Odium Unmake Mishram into Ba Ado Mishram. This is the singer betrayal the spren speak of, which led to many spren mimicing what Honor had done with the Heralds, and the beginning of the Radiants. Cultivation and Honor then had another child, this time made to represent the common ground between humans and spren - Mishram's younger Sibling. A lot of the evidence I've based this on from the text is drawn from the two in-world myths in the title, 'Queen Tsa and the cleverest of the three moons' and 'The Girl Who Looked Up". If you want to get into the weeds, keep reading. Myths of Roshar Firstly, we need to be establish the connection between these two tales, so let's look at what both of the myths are about: The tale of Queen Tsa is a story about a woman who escapes the bounds set forth for her and her people by travelling to the heavens. She is aware that going to the heavens is forbidden for mortals, but still she ascends (by tricking the green moon Mishim to trade places with her). She eventually returns to the world, however she is carrying the child of Nomon, the blue moon god of her people. Her son bears the "mantle of the heavens" and she believes he will lead her people to glory. The tale of The Girl Who Looked Up is a story about a young woman who escapes the bounds set forth for her and her people by travelling beyond the Wall. She is aware that going beyond the Wall is forbidden for her people, but still she ascends. She looks over the wall to and sees God's Light. She returns to the world, but first she steals a piece of God's Own Light and flees back home with it. As a result, the storms start coming - but her people now have Light. My conclusion is probably quite obvious by now... Queen Tsa is The Girl Who Looked Up Or, at least, the two represent the same person/people. While Queen Tsa may be an actual historical figure in Roshar, it's important to remember that Hoid - ancient, magical Hoid - is the one telling the tale.. And he's not above exercising artistic license when he wants to. Hoid is also the teller of the second iteration of the Girl Who Looked Up not long after this scene, the version which includes the Girl's people having "light renewed." (Oathbringer, 82) If that doesn't convince you, here are a few of the symbolic ties between Tsa and the Girl. i) Looking Up Like the Girl, Tsa quite literally spends her story looking up at the heavens and hatching her scheme to get there: she is literally a girl who looks up. Both Tsa and the Girl are warned against their quest: The Queen herself says that all know the eyes of mortals would burn at the sights, their minds run mad at the language of the heavens. The Girl questions several people on the Wall and is told: "There is a wall. Do not go beyond it, or you shall die.” (Oathbringer, 25) Both the Girl and the Queen reach for the sky: The Girl by climbing the "high, terrible wall stretching toward the moons. Blocking the sky..." (Oathbringer, 25) The Queen by designing "high towers for her city, built to reach ever upward, grasping toward the sky." (Oathbringer, 67) ii) Turning White In the myth of the Girl at the point at which she starts climbing the Wall, Shallan notices that the Girl's hair is white, and is unsure if it had always been. Brandon has stated there is some significance to this. In the story of Tsa, the Queen is represented in Hoid's smoke by a white tower while Mishim is represented by a green moon. Once they trade places however, Shallan notes that: "the moon had become white, and the single straight tower he made by swiping up in the smoke was instead pale green." (Oathbringer, 67) In both stories, the transition/appearance of white occurs after the protagonist sets out on their journey to the other side. iii) The Red Scarf In the myth of the Girl, we are told: "a vibrant red scarf grew around the girl’s neck, twin tails extending far behind her". (Oathbringer, 25) The significance of this scarf is hard to see until you look into the history of the scarf itself. It originated in Ancient Egypt and was worn by Queen Nefertiti. I think this is meant to draw yet another symbolic connection between the Girl and Queen Tsa, as she too wears the mantle of a Queen. As for the colour red, more on that later.* Lastly, when Shallan finds Hoid telling the story of Queen Tsa and the three moons in Kholinar: "He was dressed, strangely, in a soldier’s uniform—Sadeas’s livery, with the coat unbuttoned and a colored scarf around his neck." (Oathbringer, 67) iv) The Crime Both the Girl and the Queen commit a crime (or at least something that is viewed in world as morally wrong) once they reach the other side. The Queen breaks her promise not to look upon the sights of the heavens: "Tsa! Your word is broken!" (Oathbringer, 67) The Girl steals a piece of God's Light. v) The Light Both return home with a keepsake from the other side. The Girl returns to her village with the piece of God's Light, bringing with her the storms. We are told that the Light once taken could not be put back and that "each storm brought light renewed" and [of her people] "now they could see". In other words, her people now had Light eternal thanks to her gambit. The Queen carries a child of Nomon, one of the gods, who bears the "mantle of the heavens". The story elaborates that all descendants of this son bear this mantle (the blue skin) - or you could say all of her people now bear the mantle of the heavens. Symbolically, heaven's mantle usually refers to the stars themselves - or starlight. So all of her people now bear the Light of the heavens after her gambit. So if these two stories are about the same characters and events, what are they about? Who do they represent? We know of the history of the human refugees led by the Heralds, who were bound in Shinovar and likely warned against tampering with the Surges after the destruction of their home planet. We know that the First Desolation was sparked by some sort of betrayal by the spren involving the humans: "The betrayal of spren has brought us here/They gave their Surges to human heirs" (Words of Radiance, 28) Who is Queen Tsa/The Girl representing? What about Mishim, God's Light, the child of Nomon and Tsa? The Heralds & Ba Ado Mishram 1) The people of Tsa's kingdom = the people of the village = human refugees from Ashyn The Village and the world are both the strictly designated areas of the denizens of Tsa and the Girl's world, and they are forbidden to leave it. From what we know of the original Ashynite refugees, this is exactly what Shinovar was to them: humans were supposed to stay in the grassy, earth-like area designed for them - to this day the Shin curse stonewalkers ( the rest of Roshar is basically stone and crem). Another parallel is found in the fact that the people in the Girl's village lived in darkness - there was no Light. In much the same way, Shinovar is known to have no spren, and the ancient human refugees had no bonds to Rosharan spren - no Investiture - no Light. However, this story is not purely a physical one - much like the history of Roshar was not. 2) The City/World = The Village = Shinovar/the minds of men Queen Tsa's home city/the whole world parallels the village the girl lives in: the Village is described as being in the shadow of the great Wall - one villager says it's not a wall: "That’s just the way the sky is over there.” (Oathbringer, 25) The Wall is so huge the villagers almost seem to live beneath it, in the same way Tsa and her people live literally below the heavens. And while the humans did literally expand out of Shinovar into Roshar, but the rest of the tale - the theft of Light, the mantle of the heavens - doesn't quite add up with any purely physical objects in Rosharan history. We have known since Words of Radiance that the ancient singers felt the spren had betrayed them. This has been expanded on in subsequent books as we know the singers manipulated the Surges - using Stoneshaping etc. - and had some sort of bonds with the spren like all native Rosharan life. That ancient betrayal that sparked the war, and a cycle of betrayals. The spren betrayal, in the listener's words was that: "They gave their Surges to human heirs" (Words of Radiance, 28) We also know how spren bonds work now - human minds are linked to spren, which pulls them into the Physical Realm through the Connection. It is a meeting of minds that grants spren presence in the Physical Realm in exchange for granting humans Surges. This is why I believe the darkness the people of the Girl's village is representative of Cognitive darkness - the humans had no access to the Surges, to Stormlight - they lived in darkness. For further evidence we can look to the singers in this tale. 3) The creatures who lived beyond the Wall = the singers "She climbed down the steps...she hid among the creatures who lived on this side." (Oathbringer, 82) There are creatures who live beyond the wall, in "God's Light" (Oathbringer, 82) unlike the Girl's people living in the land of shadows. On the Physical level, this is accurate with what we know of Rosharan history - the ancient singers lived in Roshar, filled with spren and Investiture while the humans lived in earth-like Shinovar. It also tallies with what we've heard about the bonds between men and spren vs those between singers and spren.These realms are meant to represent the minds of men and singers respectively: at this point in time, humans had no Connection to the spren of Roshar - there was a barrier between their minds and those of the spren. Singers however, cannot provide what the humans can: The spren betrayed us, it's often felt. Our minds are too close to their realm That gives us our forms, but more is then Demanded by the smartest spren, We can't provide what the humans lend, Though broth are we, their meat is men (Words of Radiance, 32) According to this, the ancient spren betrayed the singers because singers minds were too close to their realm (Shadesmar), and the sapient spren desired more: human connection. Much as we are told that Mishim "doesn’t want to be in the sky" and longs to come down among mortals and do all the things "she had watched from afar" (Oathbringer, 67). As for Nomon, in the tale we see how Mishim's brothers enjoy the company of Tsa, in a way they never seemed to with Mishim. This seems to parallel the sentiments of the singers as they realise the humans - like Queen Tsa - have more to offer the spren than they do; this suggests Nomon himself represents the spren. As for Mishim...more on that later/ 4) Queen Tsa = The Girl Who Looked Up = The Heralds Now, if the setting is ancient Shinovar then while the Girl/Queen of the people could represent an actual queen, she more likely represents the leaders of the humans living in Shinovar: the Heralds. After all, it is the Girl who is responsible for stealing the piece of God's Light, the coming of the storms, and "tearing down the wall" (Oathbringer, 25). In the RoW Nale visions, we see what is presumably the forging of the Oathpact (as it is the earliest vision). In it, Jezrien and Ishar invite Nale to take some charge, a duty that he accepts with honor - the Oathpact. Jezrien claims, "We will fix what we've broken." (Rhythm of War, 47) This seems to indicate that Jezrien and Ishar - at least - were responsible for starting the Desolations. We also infer that Nale was opposed to whatever Jezrien and Ishar did that "broke" something and started the war, as Jezrien claims he was correct all along. Let's combine this with what we already know about the start of the Desolations: 1) The spren betrayed the singers by giving their "Surges to human heirs" 2) The humans betrayed the singers in some way involving the spren "they were a people forlorn, without a home...their betrayal extended even to our gods: to spren, stone, and wind." (Oathbringer, 111) 3) Some of the Heralds were responsible for breaking something, which started the Desolations So what did the ancient humans break? We know the Heralds were their leaders, and that squares with Jezrien's reference to what they broke when talking to Nale. In the story of the Girl, she steals a piece of God's Light. This leads to the breaking of the wall, the barrier between the land of shadows and the land of Light - and the Storms come as a punishment. It seems that the Heralds - the ancient humans - violated their agreement, they broke their word. "Tsa! Your word is broken!" (Oathbringer, 67) The Heralds broke their word by (in the eyes of the Fused) stealing the spren/Surges, breaking the barrier between men and spren and, which led to the Desolations. The Girl crossed the barrier between lands and stole Light, which led to the Wall being torn down and the Storms coming as punishment. After breaking their Pact with the singers, Jezrien and Ishar hatched a plan to forge a new one that might fix what they had ruined.= 5) The Sky = Beyond the Wall = Roshar/Shadesmar It follows that the Heavens and the land beyond the Wall are one and the same. The land beyond the Wall is illuminated by God's Light, which seems to tally with the heavens which are lit by starlight - and also the presence of the gods Nomon and Salas. 6) Tsa & Nomon's Child = The Piece of God's Light = Surges Both the Girl and the Queen journey to the 'Other Side' and return with something: the Girl steals a piece of God's Light, which she brings to her people providing Light eternal - "each storm brought light renewed, for it could never be put back, now that it had been taken." (Oathbringer, 82) The Queen returns to her land pregnant with Nomon's child, and gives birth to a son who will lead her people. He is said to bear "the mantle of the heavens" meaning the blue skin of Natanatan which mimics the blue light of Nomon's moon. In the story, Nomon is a god however; that blue light is God's light, one that his son carries. We are also told that "that is why to this day, the people of Natanatan have skin of a faintly blue shade.": Queen Tsa's people bear God's Light to this day. The key difference between the two tales is how this is obtained: the Girl steals a piece of God's Light, whereas Nomon seems to have delighted in Tsa's company - that was no theft. The only victim in the tale of Tsa is Mishim; she is the one who is tricked by Queen Tsa, she is the one who experiences "Loss." (Oathbringer, 67) She experiences the loss of "Nomon's kindness" (Oathbringer, 67): the loss of her bond with her brothers. To experience loss is to have something taken away: the Girl steals God's Light; the Queen steals God's affection. So what is God's Light? What is this thing that The Girl/Tsa/the Heralds stole? It's pretty clear, given what Light is in the real (cosmere) world - Investiture. Bonds. Or, as a Rosharan might say, Surges. These two stories - taken as one tale about the Heralds - rhyme very well with in-world canon we know, which I alluded to earlier. Let's take the two stories, strip them of their figurative facade and see what we're left with. To recap: Queen Tsa = The Girl = The Heralds The World = The Village/land of shadows = Shinovar/minds of men creatures beyond the wall = ? = singers Nomon = God's Light = spren Nomon's son = Piece of God's Light = Surges Storms = Desolations Mishim = ? = ? So, the Heralds lived and led the humans Shinovar, and were strictly forbidden from venturing beyond Shinovar and their minds from Connecting with spren and accessing Surges. Despite the warnings of some of their peers, the Heralds decide to breach the barrier between men and spren. They trick Mishim (?) into helping them access the Surges. Mishim feels betrayed by the Heralds, and claims that they broke their word. The damage is done, and the barrier between the minds of men and the spren is broken. The Desolations start as a result of this. However, every Desolation brings back the light renewed* (in this case I believe it alludes to the fact that the Heralds return with each Desolation/storm). So who is Mishim in the cosmere, this mysterious being that allowed the Heralds to access the Surges (a piece of God's Light)? Where is she in the story of the Girl Who Looked Up? We know that Mishim was the victim of loss in Tsa's story, so we simply have to look for a similar victim in the Girl's story: who did the Girl steal God's Light from? There are 2 answers to that question. 1) God's Light ("girl in the scarves slipping up to the grand source of light, then breaking off a little piece in her hand." (Oathbringer, 82) 2) The creatures beyond the Wall (aka the singers) The second is the easiest to comprehend: it fits with what we know of the lore. The Heralds/ancient humans stole (in the eyes of the singers) the Surges/Connection to Rosharan spren from the ancient singers - this is the betrayal that started the Desolations. It also works if we insert the singers in the tale of Tsa: Mishim (the singer) is jealous of Tsa's connection with her brothers Nomon and Salas: "‘Feasting?’ Her siblings had never feasted with her before." (Oathbringer, 67) "‘Songs?’ Her siblings had never sung with her before." (Oathbringer, 67) "Mishim...now knew another mortal emotion. Loss." (Oathbringer, 67) Mishim is jealous of and betrayed by the human Tsa's Connection with Nomon in the same way the singers are jealous of and betrayed by humans Connection to spren, whose "meat is men" . Tsa offers Nomon companionship that Mishim cannot, singing and feasting with him - just as the humans offer what the singers cannot: "We can't provide what the humans lend" (Words of Radiance, 32) The first is a bit murkier, but also makes sense with cosmere mechanics. You might ask how you can steal from a being made of God's Light, or how a piece of that being could grant one Surges. But we do have sapient beings made of 'God's Light' (Investiture), with whom a Connection can grant access to Surgebinding: spren. How can these two answers coexist? How can the Heralds have taken the Connection to Rosharan spren from a spren and taken it from the singers? Simple: Mishim was a spren who represented the Connection between the singers and the spren. We know that such spren can exist from Rhythm of War, because that is exactly what the Sibling is: "My song...the common ground, the Sibling said. Between humans and spren. That is … that is why I was created." (Rhythm of War, 110) The Sibling is the child of Honor and Cultivation, made to be the emulsifier between humans and spren. If Honor and Cultivation created such a being for the humans, is it not possible that they did the same aeons before? Either that, or they found the spren already in existence - the singers being native to Roshar, it is possible that such a spren arose naturally. If it didn't, if this mysterious elder spren was indeed born of Honor and Cultivation, then the spren made by Honor and Cultivation to bridge the gap between spren and humans is not the only child - he is the Sibling. A last piece of evidence - the chapter with the tale of Queen Tsa is titled 'Mishim' and begins with this epigraph: "This generation has had only one Bondsmith, and some blame the divisions among us upon this fact." (Oathbringer, 67) We know now that this was the Sibling's Bondsmith, which seems appropriate for a chapter revealing lore about the character I believe to have been its predecessor. Let's turn back to the tale of Tsa and apply this new knowledge: at the end of the story, Mishim hears a new song which she recognises as the song of Nomon's child with Tsa . She feels loss - a spren that represents the Connection between singers and spren experiences the loss of light at the hands of the humans. This works perfectly as symbolism for the singers ancient loss and betrayal. However, it still leaves us with one final question: who is/was Mishim? Who was this great spren of Connection, that represented the Connection of the minds of the entire singer species to the spren? Hmmmm.... "Ba-Ado-Mishram...Connected herself to the entire singer species." (Rhythm of War, 73) "Ba-Ado-Mishram has somehow Connected with the parsh people," (Oathbringer, 80) 7) Mishram = Mishim The first and most obvious connection here is the similarity of the two names Mishim/Mishram. Beyond this, let's look at everything we know about Ba Ado Mishram from the books: i) The Heralds know Ba Ado Mishram personally: "please find Mishram and release her. Not just for her own good. For the good of all spren." (Rhythm of War, 97) NOTE: Kalak calls her 'Mishram', not 'Ba Ado Mishram' as the Fused, Sja-Anat and other Voidspren do. ii) She is consistently described as crafty/cunning/intelligent: "Ba-Ado-Mishram, who had granted forms to the singers during the False Desolation—were crafty and conniving." (Rhythm of War, I-2) "She is said to have been keen of mind, a highprincess among the enemy forces" (Oathbringer, 106) iii) She is trapped in a prison (the gem) and presumably wants to escape. Now lets look at how Mishim, the green moon is described: i) "the third moon is the cleverest." (Oathbringer, 35) ii) "she doesn’t want to be in the sky, sir. She wants to escape." (Oathbringer, 35) iii) "everybody knows that Mishim—the third moon—is the most clever and wily of the moons.” (Oathbringer, 35) iv) "Mishim is always looking for a chance to escape her duty.” (Oathbringer, 67) v) “Everyone knows that Mishim is the cleverest of the three moons." (Oathbringer, 67) vi) "The queen was pious, but the moon was crafty." (Oathbringer, 67) [NOTE: Ishar is famously pious, and less famously crafty] vii) “As always, Mishim was hatching a scheme." (Oathbringer, 67) I find it too much of a coincidence that two characters with such similar names are consistently described with the same language. Furthermore, the characterisation of Mishim as a kind of rebel fits with what we know of Ba Ado Mishram, who led the singers in the False Desolation without Odium and the Voidspren. It also explains how and why Ba Ado Mishram was able to Connect herself to the minds of the entire singer species during the False Desolation. Her having been the spren of Connection between singers and spren, it makes sense that she would retain this capacity - and that binding her in the way they did would have some adverse effects on the singers: "Yes. That terrible act touched the souls of all who belong to Roshar. Spren too." (Rhythm of War, 49) "By capturing Ba-Ado-Mishram—locking her in a gemstone—humankind had stolen the minds of the singers in ancient times." (Rhythm of War, 24) Even the language of the Recreance in this quote seems to echo the myth of the Girl: humans stole God's Light from the minds of the singers. And Mishram, "though still crafty, has never again left her place." (Oathbringer, 67) Conclusion So that's my theory. Ba Ado Mishram - once called Mishram - was a spren who represented the common ground between singers and spren. The Heralds communed with her to some degree, perhaps tricking her, and this let them access the Surges. This act violated the agreement between the singers and the human refugees (in the eyes of the singers at least) - this was the initial spren betrayal the Fused speak of. In retaliation, the singers went to Odium and became the Fused, sparking the first Desolation. The Heralds in turn went to Honor and forged the Oathpact to enable them to fight the Fused and seal them in Braize. During the course of the war, Odium was able to Unmake Mishram, God's Own Light, into Bad Ado Mishram. This is the great singer betrayal that the spren speak of, that led to many spren mimicing what Honor had done with the Heralds, and the beginning of the Radiants. Finally, it is possible that Mishram was actually the first born child of Cultivation and Honor, created specifically to represent the bond between singers and spren. Centuries later, when the spren started making human Surgenbinders, Ishar came to Honor to help force order upon them (making the Radiant orders). At this point, Cultivation and Honor had another child, this time made to represent the common ground between humans and spren. They made the Sibling. If you made it this far thanks for reading, can't believe I actually typed this whole essay and someone actually read it. Excited for y'all to tear holes in it it!
  13. So, I’ve been thinking about the differences between the Nightwatcher’s boons and Cultivation’s boons. For the Nightwatcher’s boons, we keep seeing completely unrelated boons and curses. For example, one of Ash’s assistants, Av, talks about how his father got cloth for his boon, and then saw the world upside down. However, when Cultivation gives a boon, she appears to make them related. For Dalinar, he forgot his pain from Evi’s death, but he also can’t remember anything else about her. For Taravangian, he received wisdom and empathy/passion, but he could never have them at the same time. Each boon and curse appears to be related. They also appear to be influenced by what Cultivation knows about them. This brings us to Lift’s boon and curse. We don’t know her exact words, only that she has said that asked not to change. We also don’t know exactly what her curse was. What we do know is that she now can make Lifelight out of food, and appears to be partially in the Cognitive Realm. I’m not sure how this is related to not changing, however we can try to guess her curse off of her wording. My theory is that she's changing mentally instead of physically. After all, she’s obviously growing, but her mindset stays the same. She mentions that stealing food is her thing, and she doesn’t want to change it. She says the first time we see her that the reason she hasn’t stolen from a place like a palace is because she doesn’t know where she would go after that. She demonstrates a ridiculous level of stubbornness and a hatred of change throughout the entire series. I believe this is because she is partially stuck in the Cognitive Realm, the realm of spren. Syl mentions that spren don’t change, and we’ve seen other groups of spren stuck in the same behaviors, like Lift is. Spren also regard stormlight as a kind of fuel. For instance, when Notum is injured in RoW, the group gives him stormlight to help him heal. Lift uses Lifelight in this way, turning food/fuel into Lifelight. Whether these are just coincidences or not, Lift does appear to be stuck mentally, and I believe that this was her curse. Please tell me your theories, if you have any!
  14. So, Cultivation, posing as the Nightwatcher, "blessed" Taravangian with the ability to 1: partially outthink Rayse. 2: bear Odium. What if Cultivation is still in control over Taravangian's smart/emotional days? Could she make him suddenly intelligent for a few days, thereby removing his Connection to the Shard of Odium? This would be a great failsafe for Cultivation if Taravodium's plans run, well, contrary to her own. Taravodium will likely consider this and attempt to remove his Connection to Cultivation, but it's possible this would make him revert to his original, pre- Nightwatcher visit personality and severe him from Odium anyway. In any case, I believe Cultivation's plans stretch much further than we might have thought.
  15. *R.O.W. AND GREATER COSMERE SPOILERS/THEORY* So, in Oathbringer at the battle of Thaylen City, when Dalinar says “I am Unity” and opens Honor’s perpendicularity, Odium responds with “We Killed You!”. The popular theory seems to be that this is evidence of the division growing between the power-Odium- and the man who holds the shard-Rayse. After a 4th reread of Oathbringer and R.O.W., I now believe this to be what we will one day see as an obvious hint that Cultivation helped Odium kill Honor in an effort to one day unite not two shards as harmony has done, but all three of the shards of the Rosharan system and quite possibly begin the reforming of all 16 shards back into Adonalsium. My reasons are as follows; First, why I don’t believe “We Killed You” was talking about Odium/Rayse is discussed in the Mistborn series and Arcanum Unbounded. It’s stated multiple times that the man who took up the shard Ruin, Ati, was very different than the power he took up. Hoid goes as far as to say he was “a kind and generous man” before ascension. We know by the end he was much more the power than the man, as eluded to when kelsier says Ruin “dangles a puppet” towards Vin when he talks to her. This would imply that once the person who ascended loses control of the power it is not a “We” relationship but a complete shift in who controls who. Before they lose control of the power the person who holds the shard never says “We” because they don’t view holding the power as a symbiotic relationship but as an expansion of themself and it seems once the balance of power is tipped in favor of the power itself, the person who ascended loses complete control. Now on to why Cultivation helped kill Honor. When Sja-anat comes to Taravangian, the time he asks her to give him a way to summon Odium at a specific time, she says that perhaps Cultivation has been planning much more subtly than Odium ever suspected. Also stating that Cultivation had touched/changed three people. These people are Lyft, Dalinar, and Taravangian. As of the end of Rhythm of War, we know Taravangian has ascended to the shard Odium, and Dalinar has at-least begun to take up the remnants of the shard Honor. We know Lyft was altered to run her surge-binding on Life-Light, theoretically making her have a stronger connection to the power of cultivation than any other person on Roshar. At the end of that book we also see Cultivation come to T-Odium saying that there is much they need to discuss. Prior to to Taravangian’s ascension we hear Odium say to Dalinar, when agreeing to the contest of champions, that Cultivation would kill him if he broke his oaths, implying she already has or had the intent to kill a shard. The reason I believe she intends to unite the shards is two part. One part is a simple word drop. After Taravangian becomes Odium, Cultivation says that she believed he could “hold the shard of Odium with ‘honor’”. The other is slightly more esoteric. What have we seen so far of different unshattered shards and their intent and how it relates to the aspect of adonalsium they embody? To my knowledge, they coincide rather directly. Preservation? Preserve at all cost. Ruin? Entropy at all cost. So why would Cultivation seek to kill anything? Well I think it’s obvious. She told us exactly what she’s doing. The same thing she did to Dalinar. She’s not killing, she pruning. She helped shatter Honors power because it was her dandelion. She blew on the flower and flung seeds of Honor’s power across Roshar because she knew that neither she nor Honor could defeat Odium. But if he could be delayed, the powers transferred into imperfect vessel, Dalinar with his ties to Odium while trying to hold Honors power, Taravangian holding Odium’s Shard with his ties to Cultivation. And Lyft. A radiant-Honor-, who runs on LifeLight-Cultivation, and I believe Stormlight 5 will bring us Odium’s attempted corruption of Lyft, beginning with Moash/Burr’s murder of her fellow edgedancer at the end of R.O.W. and possibly concluding with the death of Gawx, The Prime, in the next book. Big theory with wild swings I know, but let me know if you guys know anything that directly contradicts any of this
  16. Cultivation doesn't have a goal or an endgame. She wants to guide everyone and everything to be the best version of themselves. What does "best" mean here? Whatever the subject thinks it does. The alethi (as a group) think the best version of themselves have to be the best warriors. Taravangian thinks his best version is to have the capacity to stop what is coming. His stated goal is not to stop it....just to have the capacity to do so. Seems to me that the vessel of Odium has the capacity to stop what odium is doing. He's new, and the shardic intent won't begin to consume him for centuries, maybe millenia. And yet. Will he stop it? Taravangian's arc is over. Taravangian got what he wanted. TOdium's arc has just begun and we have no idea what He will do next.
  17. Theory: After Ambition was wounded in the Threnodite System by Odium and Mercy, she fled to another point in space. This point either was, or became, the Rosharan system. Here, Ambition was killed. Her death created the Barrier Storm in the Cognitive Realm around the planet Braize. This storm was later Invested by Odium to create the proto-Everstorm that was pulled through into the Physical on Roshar at the Battle of Narak. Ambition's death also created a wound in the Spiritual Realm in the Rosharan System similar to that which exists on Threnody. This is the reason there are spren on Roshar. Datapoints: I group this into two categories, Spren and Storms. SPREN: From Shadows for Silence in the Forest of Hell, we know that the wounding of Ambition in the Threnodite System created Shades: cognitive beings which manifest in the Physical Realm. We do not see similar manifestations in the Mistborn novels or the White Sand graphic novels. We know there are no Splintered Shards in the Scadrian or Taldain systems at the time these stories are set. We see similar manifestations in Elantris and Emperor's Soul (Seons and Skaze). We know there are Splintered Shards in the Selish system at this time. We see similar manifestations in The Stormlight Archive (spren on Roshar) (and voidspren on Braize). STORMS: From Khriss's statements in Arcanum Unbounded, we know that the Dor around Sel is a whorl of free Investiture created when Odium Splintered Dominion and Devotion there. From statements from Nazh and Hoid, we know that travel to/from Sel through the Cognitive Realm is very difficult and dangerous due to the presence there of the Dor. From statements by Nazh, we know that that travel to/from Braize through the Cognitive Realm was difficult due to the presence of this Barrier Storm. A possible chronology: 1) The Shattering of Adonalsium. 2) Odium and Mercy clash with Ambition in the Threnodite System. Ambition is wounded. 3) Odium (and possibly others) clash with Ambition in the Rosharan system. Ambition is killed, creating the Barrier Storm, and spren. 4) Odium goes to the Selish system. He clashes with Dominion and Devotion. They are both killed, creating the Dor. 5) Odium returns to the Rosharan system, and begins whispering in the ears of the Ashynites. 6) The Ashynites devastate their planet using Dawnshards. They are taken in as refugees by Honor and Cultivation on Roshar. Their God, Odium, comes with them. 7) Honor, Cultivation, and Odium make a deal that they think will allow them to live in harmony on Roshar. This is the Oathpact. 8) Odium intentionally goes against the Oathpact, triggering its punishment prohibitions. He is exiled to Braize, on the far side of the Barrier Storm. The cycle of Desolations begins. 9) Honor is Splintered. 10) Honor's Cognitive Shadow is bound to the spren of the Highstorm. 11) Several millennia pass. 12) Odium invests a not-insignificant amount of Investiture into the Barrier Storm, creating the proto-Everstorm in the Cognitive Realm. This process takes several centuries. 13) Finally, the Everstorm is pulled through into the Physical Realm on Roshar, creating a direct passage between Braize and Roshar. Questions: A] Why is this wrong? B] Were other Shards involved in the death of Ambition? Did Mercy join Odium for the final clash? Did Ambition? Did Endowment (who we know is relatively new to the Nalthian system)? Indeed... were Honor and/or Cultivation in on the kill? C] Did the death of Aona and Skai occur before the initial conflict with Uli Da in the Threnodite system; after this initial conflict but before the final conflict in the Rosharan system; or after the Rosharan conflict? D] When on this timeline did Honor and/or Cultivation arrive on Roshar? E] When was Odium's first contact with the humans on Ashyn?
  18. Hi. So I'm wondering if all of Cultivation's machinations to get Taravangian to ascend are primarily motivated by revenge against Rayse, or if it is also part of a longer conflict with Hoid.
  19. Just occurred to me why Cultivation might prefer Taravangian to be Odium ... if he is bound by his oath to protect Kharbranth & its people, then he can't destroy Roshar (since destroying the planet would kill the people of Kharbranth). If Cultivation cares more about Roshar than the cosmere in general, she might see Taravangian-Odium free and wrecking other worlds but Roshar alive as preferable to Rayse-Odium destroying Roshar but still being trapped.
  20. alt text: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Gf1FKdW_vqlKZ8-tLoRrKYYO2JpUGQR2qWfJpd94B8o/edit Hi, I kinda made this randomly for a friend and posted it on twitter. People really liked it so I'm posting it here in case anyone likes stuff like this.
  21. Lirin ought to be an important character in future books. Rosharan humans’ Shard, Honor, is essentially the personification of oath keeping. He could have been about honor in a broader sense, but his Intent ended up being primarily about oaths. Of all the people on Roshar, which one’s character is most aligned with this Intent? Lirin’s. He is the most oath-keeping man on Roshar. He keep his oaths to a fault. If Lirin lived on a different world, that would just be one interesting attribute among many. But on Roshar, this should influence his Connection to certain forms of investiture, and give him credibility among the splinters beyond the credibility that people generally earn by integrity. As I have written elsewhere, I think there’s some foreshadowing that suggests he will bond an honorspren. If that happens, I suspect it will be unintentional. It also seems like surgeons are about to become more importantly to the plot, as Kaladin is about to need to find a cure for the Heralds and hopefully for other mentally ill people. This is likely to put surgeons and Heralds together. One of the Heralds said his madness could be temporarily alleviated if a Radiant swore an oath near him. It would be odd for Mr. Honor-able Lirin not to have attracted the attention of one of Honor’s spren yet, except for two things: Lirin is a pacifist and Radiants fight, and the honorspren were refusing to bond. However, Rhythm of War established that Windrunners can protect by being surgeons and that Syl’s old Radiant used to use her generally for non-violent protection (digging storm shelters, iirc), raised questions about how surgeons might use shardblades (as stethoscopes, Kaladin suggested), and saw the honorspren persuaded that they could resume bonding Radiants. But even if Lirin doesn’t become a Windrunner, we have a character who is all about Honor’s intent who’s in a profession that is suddenly relevant to the plot. Brandon has also made Lirin an interesting, three dimensional character already. We have the makings of a very important character here, possibly a main character. I like Lirin, and I will be frustrated if Lirin doesn’t get screen time while he’s at this major crossroads of theme and plot. #MoreLirin
  22. From the album: Stormlight Characters

    My take on Cultivation and the Nightwatcher, took a few artistic liberties but I am really happy with the outcome.
  23. I have a theory: Two people will become the vessels of Odium, Cultivation and Honor, with Honor divided between the two of them. For instance, Dalinar might ascend to Odium and half of Honor, becoming an Odium-heavy shard of War. Someone else would ascend to Cultivation and the other half of Honor. Maybe Lirin would be Honor-vation, as he’s got Edgedancer vibes but is honorable to a fault. Each would be an active shard, unlike Harmony, especially War. War might be even more motivated to take over the cosmere than Rayse was, because of the Intent of the new shard. Cultiv-honor (can anyone come up with a real name?) would have the potential to be a very “good” Shard, depending on who the vessel is and how the two shards combine. I am only raising this as a possibility. I wouldn’t bet on it happening.
  24. Let's talk about the Old Magic. Do you think that the Nightwatcher acts justly in the boons and curses she gives out? As a case study, do I just have a dirty mind, or do you think the man who got numb hands might have asked for something a bit... personal? Something numb hands might help with a bit? (trying not to get R rated.) Maybe the Nightwatcher found his request pathetic and decided to give him his boon in the form of numb hands. And why the heck did Cultivation answer Taravangian's request for capacity to save humankind in a twisted way that led him to become Odium? Doesn't Cultivation want humans to survive? She does not have to maintain any kind of balance in her boons and curses, apparently, so she didn't have to give him a curse as large as his boon was great. And anyway, it doesn't appear that she did give him the capacity, not really, though we can't tell that for sure yet. Thoughts?
  25. Preface: I'm definitely not super sold on this, but the thought came to me so I wanted to put it down in the best place to get other people to either shut it down or upgrade it) I thin Cultivation might have been involved in enabling the False Desolation. By which I don't mean she wanted it, but that she had something to do with Ba-Ado-Mishram. (TL;DR/theory in a few sentences at the bottom) The facts that lead me to this thought: - Ba-Ado-Mishram's ability to grant forms of power and Voidlight in the False Desolation was new, somehow. She didn't do that in previous desolations. - She's the only Unmade with two hyphens. Yes, it's time for a bit of morphology. She's also referred to by Kalak as "Mishram". This might be refering to what BAM was before being Unmade, and maybe Unmade Mishram was Ado-Mishram before becoming what she is now. As dumb as this sounds, I think the second hyphen might indicate involvement by another shard. At first I thought "hm, but who? Cultivation I guess, because she's the only one left", but a few more pieces of information might play into it. BAM gained new abilities somehow, which she didn't have before. These include being able to create Voidlight. Cultivation is able to do something similar. She both a) created a magic system together with Honor that uses Honor's Investiture but not hers and b ) gave Lift the ability to fuel her Surgebinding with Lifelight anyway. BAM was something before she was unmade. I like the idea that Odiums truest/signature Surge is Division, so I'm postulating that "Unmaking" isn't exactly a unique process, but Odiums Version of "changing an invested Being" or something like that. Point is, Odium isn't the only one who can change Spren, but Unmaking is just his version. (For exmaple, if Ruin were to do something similar, it'd end up with a Spren weaker and "less" than it was before, due to Ruin's nature) Another Shard could be able to do that too. We know that Ruin isn't the only shard able to control someone with spikes, so it can be argued that just like Future Sight and SpikeControl, any shard - whose intent wouldn't inhibit that - can corrupt or change investisture. Cultivation is training the Nightwatcher to understand human's better, for a reason we don't really know. This hasn't always been the case, but is a fairly recent development. (I can't find a source for this but I remember it being this way, I'd welcome any WoB or quote that either proves or disproves this). Cultivation, like Honor, was a god of the Singers and Spren before they swapped with Odium. Singers and Spren were affected by Ba-Ado-Mishram's imprisonment, but at that point in Time Odium was the god of only one of those groups, not both. Cultivation's plans have involved an Unmade on-screen once already. Cultivation is said to have excellent Future-Sight, and we have not heard from Sja-Anat that she was in contact with Cultivation, so Sja-Anat leading Odium to Nightblood (whom Cultivation might also have had a hand in creating) was either something they planned together or, more likely, part of Cultivation's plan. From a Meta Standpoint, the dead Shard Honor has been much more present in the fight against Odium than the alive shard Cultivation so far, and I think that that is not because she's inactive, but because her plans (as we saw with Taravangian in RoW or Dalinar in OB) are slow and long. Ever since Secret History, it's clear that Shards aren't easy to group into "good" and "bad". Preservation was good in comparison to Ruin, but would've been happy with an enternity of the Lord Ruler ruling Scadrial. Cultivation herself acknowledges she can't always control what happens to things she helps grow. To put it meanly, a Cancer cell is pretty aligned with Cultivation's intent, growth for the sake of growth is growth nonetheless. Now, to put the theory into words: I think Cultivation changed the Unmade that we now know as Ba-Ado-Mishram somehow. In a time of Odium's Absence/occupation with torturing Heralds, Cultivation "enhanced" (her version of the process which is "unmaking" for Odium) the Unmade, granting her new abilities in the process. As one of the godesses of Spren and Singers and Roshar itself, this process made Ba-Ado-Mishram more connected to those than she had been before. Ba-Ado-Mishram's imprisonment didn't create Deadeyes and Slaveform because of what she was before being Unmade, but because of the new part of her that was of Cultivation. So, the timeline of BAM would be like this: 1. "Mishram", whatever she was before being unmade. Kelek refers to her as this in a respectful/appreciate way, possibly because he knew what "Mishram" was before, 2. "Ba-Mishram", one of the 9 Unmade for the longest time. 3. Ba-Ado-Mishram, now changed once more by Cultivation, granted new abilities. The "ado" in her name comes from "adoda", meaning Light- A kind of pseudo-sibling, with both Odium and Cultivation's touch in her. She starts the False Desolation and her imprisonment taints all the other beings touched by Cultivations presence on Roshar. The Nightwatcher probably became Cultivation's "main project" only afterwards. Whether the false desolation was an intended or unintended consequence, I have no idea. Whether BAM wanted to betray Odium or even usurp him and came to Cultivation because of that, or if Cultivation "hijacked" BAM, I'm unsure. What do you guys think? Tinfoil hat theory, or might there be some merit to it?
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