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Hello Sandersonians! while perusing some of the topics on here an idea came to me, so I'm going to share with you all. I apologize if this has been covered before. My theory is thus. I am starting to believe that Shinovar is a kind of safe-haven, a fortress if you will, for when the final Dessolation/Everstorm comes. A place to safeguard the races of Roshar and to allow them to endure the coming trials. Here is some of my thinking behind this. Shinovar is protected from the Highstorms : Shinovar is at the far west of the continent of Roshar, and is surrounded by a large mountain range that breaks the fury of the Highstorms. This provides Shinovar with natural barriers, that would help protect against both Invading armies, and a calamity such as the Everstorm. Shinovar is particularly fertile, and the Shin place emphasis on food production: With the culture of Shinovar placing so much emphasis on farming and food production. And with a environment tailored to producing vast amounts of food. Shinovar would likely have large stocks of food, a resource which can quickly become scarce during times of large scale war, an is invaluable for mounting an effective resistance. This would allow Shinovar to house large numbers of refugees and large armies. The Shin seem to retain more ancient knowledge than other cultures: Szeth's existence would suggest that the Shin stone shamans have a knowledge of surgebinding that has been largely lost in other cultures. Knowledge that would no doubt prove useful when fighting the Voidbringers. Shinovar has a curious absence of Spren: I am unsure if this point would support of discount this theory. This absence of spren could be an advantage, we know there are some 'evil' spren, and it could be argued that the voidbrigers themselves are spren. Though this would also mean the absence of good spren like Syl. Shinovar may be 'the place nearest to Honour': In the tWok there is a quote stating that 'Urithiru was placed to the west of Alethela, in the place nearest to Honour'. While there are many places west of Alethela, Shinovar is a strong possibility. If Honour is indeed in the west of the continent, it would make sense to make your stand against the voidbringers here, where Honour's power would be strongest. *Small spoiler from Words of Radiance* So that is some of my thinking behind my theory. Shinovar is vastly different from the rest of Roshar, and I don't think it would be too much of a stretch to find out it was intended as bastion to fight the dessolations from. Thought I am still unsure on how much I like the validity of this theory, I think it has some merit. Thank you for reading such a long post. Thoughts everyone?