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Disclaimer: I have no idea where to put this, so please benevolent mods, move this if necessary. SPOILER WARNING: Alright so, this theory contains the heaviest spoilers in the world for Stormlight Archive Rhythm of War, Warbreaker, Elantris, Tress of the Emerald Sea, and I might have to borrow from Mistborn Era 2 It also spoilers ALL of Avatar the last airbender and Legend of Korra. The world of Avatar almost perfectly fits into the cosmere, here me out. I'll be using cosmere words like Bond, Connection, Investiture, Spren, Shards, cognitive realm, Intent, and the like, so if you don't know any of those, read the cosmere books before reading on in this theory. I'll to capitalize those words in order to make them stand out. I will call the Avatar-World the Avatar-World in order to avoid confusion. --- Let's get started, first of all, of course there are not really fitting shards left over for this planet, but to put it simply, something similar to Roshar is going on. Spren-like splinters called Spirits inhabit the Cognitive Realm known as the Spirit-world of the planet Avatar-World, and two perpendicularities known as Spirit Portals in the North and South pole of the planet exist. This is a fact that points towards two Shards of Adonalsium having been shattered on that world. The Spirit World, Spirits, and the Perpendicularities Judging from the original humans having been in the Cognitive Realm first, they might've migrated over from another planet, before having been changed by Cosmereological Intent (see Pure Lakers on Roshar) to let the ever present but Mist-like (see Scadrial) invisible form of Investiture known as Chi, flow through their bodies. The Spren/spirits/splinters of those Shards known as the lion turtles could thus grant the humans a special form of Bond to allow them to use the power of an element. In the Avatar-World there must be two new types of Bonds: one that lion turtles use to grant the ability to use investiture to control and element, and one bond that Spirits use to possess a human. Bending and Investiture - an End-Positive System Forming a Connection to the power of the Splintered shards (see what happened on Sel), this Bond is not very similar to the Nahel Bond (Roshar & Spren) and a Luhel Bond (Lumar), but instead only requires an initial bond that unlcoks the power in a human and can then be passed on genetically. Investiture in the Avater-World in the physical realm is an invisible gas, or at least humans have evolved to not see it, and is ever-present, seeping into the humans where it is called Chi. The unlocking of bending and chi-gates might form cracks in the soul that are passed on genetically, seemingly even the more powerful Splinters or rather Cognitive Shadows can hold such powers, as evident by Raava and Vaatu. Bending itself is a way of Accessing Investiture, requiring intent and specific physical movements that look almost like a martial art. This is similar to Aons drawn by Elantrians using AonDor or the martial arts on Sel. The Avatar Both bonds were used by Raava and Wan to create the first avatar: A cognitive shadow that holds memories of all prior avatars, held together within a human body by the Spirit Raava. Whenever an Avatar dies, the memories are added to the cognitive shadow known as the Avatar, and the spirit Raava carries it on to a newborn human from another nation to use the possession Bond with. Similar to a Bondsmith, the Avatar can create and sever connection, such as completely taking someone's ability to bend, or temporarily elsecalling into the Spirit World (Cognitive Realm). Chi-Blocking Chi-blocking blocks spiritual pathways for the Soul which investiture would need to take. Healing Healing works well in the Avatar-World since due to the physical movements through which investiture is accessed, the humans of the Avatar-World have developed a stronger image of self and their cultures, even associating them directly with how they can use investiture. Savantism Savantism in bending might require something more than just a lot of investiture and using their power, but these are known as specialized bending types. --- Tell me what you think. Did I make any mistakes? Any way you can fix my mistakes and still make it fit?

May have been discussed before, but why is the Sibling called the Sibling? Why not the Child? I feel that this is hinting that Honor and Cultivation created more than one spren together. Perhaps they made 10 children, all siblings of each other, and 9 of them fell to Odium as the Unmade. Sja-Anat calls the Sibling her cousin. She also says Odium can unmake spren: She mentions that their memories are lost, and we saw the Sibling slowly losing control in the chapters after all nodes were destroyed. Will there be a way to remake an Unmade, as Book 5 will deal with BAM?

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?

The Call to Adventure! (see what I did there) 39,000 words, Teen/Mature/Explicit (see below for more details) Shakadolin, romance, friendship, sexual situations, polyamory negotiations, choose your own adventure style, asexual Kaladin, aroace Kaladin, bisexual Kaladin, questioning Kaladin, demisexual Kaladin Shallan and Adolin have been sort of kind of engaged for the last few years, and Kaladin has been an increasingly closer friend. But Shallan and Adolin have been talking about their relationship, and now Shallan has a proposal of her own for Kaladin… This is a choose your own adventure for Kaladin! What kind of relationship does he want to have with them, and how will he make that happen? The story guides through three questions and has eight happy endings ranging from platonic friendship to explicit sex. It takes place in a Canada modern AU setting and it references characters, themes, and quotes from Stormlight, all the way through to RoW. You will be amply warned for the rating of each chapter before you click! Teen chapters have discussions of sex and relationships in broad terms that one might find in a teen drama. Mature has discussions with more blatant sexual themes, complex emotions, and/or internalized acephobia/biphobia. Explicit has detailed descriptions of people having sex. There will be more details given at the top of chapters to help you out. Teen-rated excerpt below:

We see Kaladin use the Reverse Lash to rip off the Pursuer's head after he reaches the fourth ideal in Rhythm of War. Is this something he could've done before the fourth ideal, if he had practiced the Reverse Lash more? He starts using the ability in creative ways due to lacking the ability to use the Basic Lash for most of Rhythm of War, and don't really see anyone use it besides Kaladin in the first book. I thought surges don't become more powerful as you make oaths, you just gain access to new ones and your Shardblade/Shardplate, plus becoming a better "container" for Stormlight.

[double post glitch]

Rated Teen, 3000 words, Lyn/Laran Summary: Lyn just broke up with her boyfriend a couple weeks ago. Laran has caught her eye, but is it too soon? To be respectful to her ex’s feelings, Lyn decides to wait a while, but it’s difficult when Laran looks at her Like That… Keep reading (link to ao3)

Hello everybody, I am excited to post a topic for the first time! I’ve been thinking a lot of RoW and there has been something constantly bugging me ever since finishing the book. Why is Nale holding back his full power? As revealed in RoW Nale is a fifth ideal Skybreaker. This means he not only has access to shard plate but also whatever mystery power is granted by the fifth ideal. If he were to use these resources he would not only have absolutely smoked any radiant he fought, he would also have been more effective at his mission. Instead he chooses not use his shard plate. Any thoughts?

Chapter 100 of RoW is titled “Watchers at the Rim”. Why is this so familiar, and what is its meaning?

I'm aware that there are things going around about why Kaladin remained awake, as well as why his powers kinda worked. Venli asked at one point about the 9 kinds of Fused versus the 10 orders of Radiant, and which one was missing. The Fused she asked claimed Adhesion wasn't an actual Surge. This happens to be the only ability that Kaladin was able to use. Perhaps, as the most senior Wind runner, he had the closest relationship with the Surges, thus the one remaining was more powerful. It's also worth noting that the Windrunners were the only ones that showed signs of maybe kinda waking up during that time. I think this Surge was the reason.

What exactly is happening here? This is when Moash is in the burning manor basement with Kaladin. Moash is taunting him when a pure, concentrated light explodes into the room: The figure in the light was Renarin, so is this his attempt at lightweaving? Does he lightweave possibilities (as he is able to see them), and he saw Moash’s alternative path which would’ve led to him living as a respectable Radiant Windrunner? Why does this cause Moash to feel pain again (he says to take the pain away)? This also ties in with Moash at the end, when he begins to feel pain: Is this weakening of the Connection similar to the scene in Ch. 8? Thoughts?

Zahel mentions something interesting regarding Cognitive Shadows: Going back to this scene after the book, I see that it ties in nicely with the idea of Heralds being like spren. So who is “she” here? Is it Ba-Ado-Mishram (BAM)? I’m wondering because Kalak mentions something similar in his last epigraph, and we know BAM affects the memories and thinking of spren and natives of Roshar (singers): If it is BAM, how does Zahel know so much?

Why does Shallan name Formless as male? Is it just another coping technique to distance herself from who she was?

Realizing that if Book 5 ends 10 days after the end of RoW (day of the contest), what part do Shallan and Adolin play? They'll still be traveling in the Cognitive Realm for at least 10 days, and they have no idea what's happening except with Wit and his communications box. They may be the part of the story that reveals a few big twists, investigating what truly happened at the Recreance. Thoughts?

I’ve been wondering about this one, partially because I feel like this will play a part in Book 5 (theory coming soon): How does the Stormfather slow time for someone in the highstorm? We saw this a little bit when Taravangian Ascended, that a high concentration of Investiture dilates time around those present. Also, how long can this last? The Stormfather says not too long, so let’s say a few seconds. But how long does that feel to the individual? For Kaladin, it was just a few minutes, but could it be longer?

The Stormfather said that a Highstorm naturally cycles higher and lower in the sky and will at the highest point engulf the top of Urithiru. The last Highstorm we saw was at end of RoW, a few days before the end of the book yet before the 10-day countdown began, and Kaladin described it as being just below the rooftop. So in 10 days, the Highstorm will likely envelop the rooftop and make for a great battle scene! The timing of the contest is important, as the Stormfather may be able to extend time in Dalinar's last moments of the fight (if Dalinar does indeed serve as his own champion). He may ask for this if, say, he becomes severely wounded. It would be very interesting to see Dalinar take a pause in the fight and be able to think it through, and given the additional Investiture from the Tower (and potential Investiture from the Valley if the Highstorm lines up with both locations simultaneously— see linked topic below), then he'd have a lot of time to work with. The only problem is that Odium set the date and time of the contest, and he probably knows when the next storm will be, so does he want a Highstorm for the contest? If so, why? Perhaps Odium has done this so that he can command the Everstorm to meet with the Highstorm at this moment, causing a WoR-level phenomenon that we saw before. This is just speculation, so maybe we won't see any Highstorm, but we've seen either a Highstorm or the Everstorm used in the last battles since WoR, so it would only make sense for us to see them used again.

When Dalinar speaks to Kaladin as Tien, right before the 4th Ideal, it reminded me of his “I am Unity” scene in OB. His message to Kaladin is being there in the moment for others, not just thinking about the end goal. It’s a reiteration of the First Ideal, journey before destination. Dalinar likes to focus on that one, similar to OB, where he says it can’t be a journey if it doesn’t have a beginning.

Ever since I’ve read this Death Rattle, I believed that to truly break the bond with spren, you need to say Words opposite and contradictory to the Ideals you’ve spoken. This WoB suggests saying words is one of the ways to break the bond with spren. However up until RoW ch 93 there was nothing more to suggest this was the case. Until we saw Shallan breaking her own bond with Testament, by speaking words that might not feel important at first, yet are the key to her original Truths. To fully break the bond, she spoke inverted words of her original Truths and the First Ideal. First Ideal is contradicted with the last three sentences, as they fit together very well, this means breaking of the Oaths is in order from the one recently spoken, to the First Ideal “Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination” - “You never existed. You are nothing. And I am finished!” Life never existed, the Strength is nothing, and the journey is finished. This bears very close resemblance to the Death Rattle quoted above. Knowing this we can say that Shallan's bond with Testament was on the 4th Ideal. “I’m done!” negated her 2nd Truth, “I hate you!” was for 3rd one, and “I don’t want you!“ inverted the last, 4th Truth she had spoken. These seems like a simple statements and I believe her Truths were also childishly simply, even Shallan said it herself: We can now guess her original Truths with Testament: 2nd Truth is the opposite of “I’m done!”, so it would be about starting of something, Shallan just simply admitting that “this is a new beginning” fits well enough. 3rd Truth was contradicted with “I hate you!”, so her Truth would be saying that she likes Testament. “I like you”. 4th Truth, the last one, was broken with “I don’t want you!“. Her Truth might be realizing that she wants to spend time or be with Testament, or even that she needs her. Now Shallan's situation with Testament is different from Kaladin’s with Syl in WoR. Kaladin didn’t say the contradicting words, he didn’t fully break his Oaths, he just didn’t live up to them. And when he started living by Ideals again, Syl was brought back to life, and he was able to say the 3rd Ideal. Shallan contradicted every single Ideal she’d spoken with inverted words. She can’t say the 5th Truth and make Testament alive again, she needs to reconstruct every Ideal she’s broken. And we have WoBs confirming it. She has already started doing it. She must have said her first Ideal somewhere in the past, maybe even at the same time she said it to Pattern unknowingly. Shallan said in RoW that she remembered using her surges after breaking the bond with Testament but before bonding Pattern, she soulcasted in WoK, and she was using Testament as a Shardblade during WoR. The most obvious candidate for her new Truth with Testament is “I’m terrified” spoken to a spren during events of WoK, when she soulcasted the goblet into blood. However, which Truth was reconstructed with these words is hard to say. It might be the 2nd one, or even the 3rd one, thus granting her ability to summon Testament as a Shardblade again, and allowing the blade to change shapes, open Oathgates, and look like a living Shardblade. To add more, Shallan admitting to killing or bonding Testament in RoW might be reconstruction of another Truth, as WoB posted above suggests this is a step in reconstructing her Oaths. But if that's true, then "I'm terrified" can't be 3rd one, as with the one in RoW she would be at 4th Ideal, and would fully reconstruct her Oaths. Yet Testament is still Deadeye. There might be something more needed, or her admitting to killing her spren might be just laying the foundation, not Oath reconstruction, because now she's aware of this, and now she can knowingly work on reconstructing more Oaths. What do you think? What were Shallan’s original Truths spoken with Testament? What Truths has she managed to reconstruct?

My main theory that changes how we count Shallan's Ideals is that Shallan said an Ideal as she killed Testament. It would explain which swords she's using in WoR and how they are working. 1st Ideal— Same for all Orders. She said this early in her childhood. 2nd Ideal— She said this first to Testament. It was probably simple and childlike, given her age, maybe “I love you” or “you are my (only) true friend” being all alone in the Davar House. My theory: Lightweavers earn their Blade at 2nd Ideal, not 3rd. We've seen Windrunners and Edgedancers earn blade at 3rd Ideal (WoR for Kaladin, Edgedancer for Lift). Some don't even bond a spren until later Ideals (like Skybreakers in OB). Bottom line, Orders progress at different rates and makes sense from a Cultivation-based viewpoint (she would like variety in progression). 2nd Ideal— "I killed my father" is said to Pattern. This means that he's now a blade by the end of TWoK but can’t manifest yet because he’s weak in thinking and complex ideas. He can't even manifest physically until Shallan draws his pattern in the beginning of WoR. This means that Tyn is killed by Testament. In the moment before killing Tyn, Shallan notes: Notice: "But for her, it didn't have to be ten". I think "her" refers to Testament, not Shallan. Testament doesn't need to be summoned in 10 heartbeats because she is still partially bonded to Shallan. We also know deadeyes can be summoned in less, such as with Maya and Adolin (I think they got down to 7 beats). Right at this point Shallan begins to create Veil to hide the past about Testament (confirmed in RoW). The moment of her using Testament after all these years is what pushes her to make Veil, since that action of using Testament is what starts to bring the memories back. 3rd Ideal— My theory: "I hate you" is said to Testament. Yep, Shallan broke their bond as she swore the 3rd Ideal. Testament feels shame for letting Shallan kill her mother and accepts these words as truth, that she knows Shallan truly hates herself and Testament. It would be a great twist, since we wouldn't think that you can swear an Ideal while killing your spren. But Testament is the only one who needs to accept the Truths, and she does if moved to shame. 3rd Ideal— "I killed my mother" is said to Pattern. This was said after the Oathgate transfer, so Pattern had to have been a sword at that point already. This fits with the idea that Cryptics can be a blade by the 2nd Ideal. There is not nearly enough Investiture in Testament for her to do that, being a deadeyes; she can sometimes help soulcast and be a Blade, but that’s it. She moves slower than Pattern does in the Cognitive Realm, so Shallan running to the Oathgate and activating it at end of WoR might've happened too fast for Testament to keep up with her. We also know deadeyes move slowly and keep their distance from their Shardbearers (Maya walking a ways behind the group in OB). Shallan has no need to summon her afterwards, now that Pattern manifested as a Blade already in the chasms and again for the Oathgate, AND Shallan acknowledging how Pattern is different than other Blades, so she finds no need to summon Testament again. The transfer occurs and Testament is left on the platform in the Cognitive Realm, the mysterious island in the east where she was found by the shopkeeper (RoW) and held with her after that. 4th Ideal— "I'm terrified" is said to Testament in TWoK. These truths to her are still pretty simplistic because Testament is from a childhood bond. This grants some soulcasting for Shallan but it's still very weak. By the end of WoR, there's a that WoB says Shallan is on 4th Ideal. He's referring to this one, not any Ideals with Pattern. 4th Ideal-"I killed [my spren]" was said to herself in Kalak's study. Pattern has not yet accepted this (or maybe did offscreen but that seems weak), because he didn’t hear the truth. Remember, she forbid Pattern from following her to Kalak's house. 5th Ideal— This will be a one-and-done truth, a bridge between her bonds with the two spren. It will heal Testament and propel her to 5th ideal for both bonds. Testament’s Ideals revolve around shallan as a child while Pattern’s exposes her childhood, so 5th Ideal is a combination that satisfies both of her spren, and they both accept it. This makes it plausible for Shallan to sweat a single Ideal in the next book. Thoughts?

How can Odium make Fused? This seems like Adhesion or using Connections. This also begs a more serious question: if Adhesion is the surge of pressure and vacuum, and Odium is the Void, has this surge been touched by Odium?

I realized that Kaladin doesn’t use adhesion the same way that Dalinar does. Is this because of his radiant order, or because he doesn’t want to make a Connection with others in fear of losing them?

Listening through RoW for the second time, I’m given to wonder: are Shards coming back together? We know that Stormlight and Voidlight mix into Warlight. Will the Shards themselves come together? And would peace be achieved by creating a combined Shard of War? Dalinar, as the Bondsmith of the Stormfather, seems to have as much power as can be had that once belonged to Honor. If the Storms merged, or perhaps if Dalinar loses the contest of Champions, but Odium goes down anyway…. Could Dalinar become War? Part of me thinks that this might be a step backwards for Dalinar. Part of me thinks it would be kinda lame for Brandon to do the exact same thing on Roshar as he did on Scadrial…… but maybe the Shards are coming together. They were never meant to be separate. Maybe Dalinar’s next big challenge is to fail in his contest and fall back into war, and claw his way into something better. And then there’s a question of what kind of Shard War would be. Hatred, restricted by oaths and discipline? Battle, but organized, with rules of engagement, Codes that control violence? Battle being handled by soldiers so that civilians are left in peace? I don’t know…..

I'm not sure if this belongs here in SA or in the Mistborn thread but the stuff I'll quote to support this is from RoW so I'm going to go with here. I'm also not sure if someone has already made this theory before. There are 200,000 posts here so it seems likely but I still think this is a good idea and worth discussing. (I have been listening to the audiobooks so I don't have specific page numbers. I'll give what chapter I took it from and the context so you can find it though.) RoW chapter 39 - 23:39:00. This happens after the invasion of the Tower when fused and regals are searching the Tower for downed radiants. Kaladin is in his father's hospital area and hears news of these enemy troops coming toward him. He picks up a scalpel and prepares for battle, then thinks this: "the scalpel of a surgeon was a very different thing from a soldier's knife. a surgeon's knife could be a subtle thing, meant to cause as little harm as possible. a delicate contradiction, like Kaladin himself." "it had been designed to heal, but could kill just as efficiently, like Kaladin himself" also, in Harmony's letter (at the beginning of RoW Chapter 29), he says, "I have begun searching for a pathway out of this conundrum by seeking the ideal person to act on my behalf. Someone who embodies both Preservation and Ruin. A....sword, you might say, who can both protect and kill." I believe these quotes are referencing the same person. Kaladin Kaladin is a complicated person. He has years of formal training as a surgeon and years of formal training as a killer. He knows how to do both very effectively and seems to find a balance between the two by the end of RoW (after swearing his 4th ideal). But this complicated past is exactly what makes him perfect for this job. He is very familiar with ruining and preserving. I believe that in the second 5-book series in Stormlight Archive, Kal will meet Sazed/Harmony and they will strike a deal similar to what Odium wanted with Dalinar, though, not quite so destructive. Harmony doesn't need a general to lead his armies or a bondsmith to free him from his prison. Harmony just needs an avatar to act through. Someone who will truly, deeply understand him, his goals, and what keeps him from accomplishing them. That's the theory. Let me know what you guys think of this! I've been thinking about this for a week or two and really feel like it fits. If Kal can find a way over to Scadrial, this would be super cool!