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So, this is an idea I had after reading some people’s thoughts of Hoid’s narration. Namely, how he seems to mention a lot more modern inventions than he does in other books - for example, talking about vending-machines at the end of Chapter 54, or name-dropping laptops. This is interesting, because modern technology doesn’t appear in most Cosmere books. Era 2’s Scadrial is the most advanced civilization we’ve seen so far. And that, combined with the fact that Hoid frequently comments on tropes and storytelling and all that, and sometimes fudges details for comedy (see: the Dougs), leads me to one realization: At least in Secret Projects 1 and 3, Sanderson is writing Hoid very similarly to how he writes Alcatraz. Think about it! A powerful white dude snarkily commenting on storytelling while retelling his adventures from decades ago? That’s basically Alcatraz Smedry from “Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians”! I don’t think this tone will really maintained for “Dragonsteel”, mainly because… Hoid is the protagonist of that story, so he’s not going to be robbed of his faculties or ability to move. He has much more personal investment, so he’ll be a lot less quippy.

There seem to be a lot of opposites in Secret Project 3. I think this hints at the nature of the two planets and their source of investiture (Virtuosity). TLDR: Similarities of opposites between the two worlds might suggest that a single world was created and then "bonded" in to two mirror type worlds by virtuosity during her shattering, which also created the hions, spirits and nightmares. Between worlds: Male/Female (yumi vs painter) Light and hot/Dark and cool (shroud vs star?*) Guilted into working too hard because no one else can do it /Shown to be only a replaceable cog in the machine (Liyun vs Sukishi) Revered Profession/Menial Labor (priestess vs janitor) Overachiever/Underachiever (37 spirits vs only bamboo paintings) Ritualistic/Secular Ancient/Modern (in terms of technology) Rural/Urban (at least in the areas we have seen) Nightmares Evaporate/Spirits split into opposites (cases of potential investiture usage being opposite to the world***) Underground/Below ground (spirits vs nightmares as sources of investiture) Torio: Fire and water. Liquid and light (As Yumi's description of bathing ritual) One vaguely male, one vaguely female (Difference between halves of bound spirit) Blue/Orange (as spirit colors**) Kilahito: Teal/Magenta (as hion colors**) * Sanderson has directly mentioned the shroud and that it causes the darkness, but had not really mentioned anything about the day star other than it is red-orange (which is cooler than the earth's sun) and closer than the listener's sun. If it is closer that might cause higher temps, but there are also references to water not being rare on Torio. Instead it is "concentrated, centralized, elevated". Maybe water in the atmosphere is causing the intense heat, like a clear version of the shroud. ** Sanderson has answered questions about the presence ( or lack ) of yellow (search yellow on words of sanderson on the coppermind) It is therefore notable that the color pairs would be opposite if they did not shy away from yellow. Blue should go to yellow but goes to orange. Magenta should go to green but goes to teal. *** So it water being dropped on the floor in Torio will evaporate. Similar to the description of the nightmare vanishing. (Instead, like water trapped on a hot plate, it just…evaporated.) Yet, when Yumi makes bonds with the spirits they split, like hions (twin bands of pure energy). Maybe banishing a nightmare creates a spirit and bonding a spirit creates hions? Two sides of the same coin. Want to dig into the golden rule/fib seq wrt art and virtuosity. Also the idea of the extent of world hopper influence and colonization.

There seem to be a lot of opposites in Secret Project 3. I think this hints at the nature of the two planets and their source of investiture (Virtuosity). TLDR: Similarities of opposites between the two worlds might suggest that a single world was created and then "bonded" in to two mirror type worlds by virtuosity during her shattering, which also created the hions, spirits and nightmares. Between worlds: Male/Female (yumi vs painter) Light and hot/Dark and cool (shroud vs star?*) Guilted into working too hard because no one else can do it /Shown to be only a replaceable cog in the machine (Liyun vs Sukishi) Revered Profession/Menial Labor (priestess vs janitor) Overachiever/Underachiever (37 spirits vs only bamboo paintings) Ritualistic/Secular Ancient/Modern (in terms of technology) Rural/Urban (at least in the areas we have seen) Nightmares Evaporate/Spirits split into opposites (cases of potential investiture usage being opposite to the world***) Underground/Below ground (spirits vs nightmares as sources of investiture) Torio: Fire and water. Liquid and light (As Yumi's description of bathing ritual) One vaguely male, one vaguely female (Difference between halves of bound spirit) Blue/Orange (as spirit colors**) Kilahito: Teal/Magenta (as hion colors**) * Sanderson has directly mentioned the shroud and that it causes the darkness, but had not really mentioned anything about the day star other than it is red-orange (which is cooler than the earth's sun) and closer than the listener's sun. If it is closer that might cause higher temps, but there are also references to water not being rare on Torio. Instead it is "concentrated, centralized, elevated". Maybe water in the atmosphere is causing the intense heat, like a clear version of the shroud. ** Sanderson has answered questions about the presence ( or lack ) of yellow (search yellow on words of sanderson on the coppermind) It is therefore notable that the color pairs would be opposite if they did not shy away from yellow. Blue should go to yellow but goes to orange. Magenta should go to green but goes to teal. *** So it water being dropped on the floor in Torio will evaporate. Similar to the description of the nightmare vanishing. (Instead, like water trapped on a hot plate, it just…evaporated.) Yet, when Yumi makes bonds with the spirits they split, like hions (twin bands of pure energy). Maybe banishing a nightmare creates a spirit and bonding a spirit creates hions? Two sides of the same coin. Want to dig into the golden rule/fib seq wrt art and virtuosity. Also the idea of the extent of world hopper influence and colonization.