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So I was reading Rhythm of War and I noticed a pattern throughout each Part. The titles of the Parts aren’t scrutinized much but in each book the five titles of the Parts are a ketek or palindrome. However behind these titles are symbols, and they also follow a symmetrical pattern. Its obvious with a quick check that the first symbol is of the Willshapers. The second is Stonewards and the third is Bondsmiths, and then the pattern reverses. I’m assuming a similar pattern shows up in the other books, but with different symbols. I don’t understand what they mean? Are they like the Herald banners on each chapter or do they have a greater significance to the plot?

Hi everyone, I'm not sure if this has been posted already, so go ahead and link it, delete or whatever needs to be done. I've been thinking about the way ideals progress since there's no ironclad definite way to know other than off of personalities of the characters and the information surrounding the knights. The majority of my information for this post will be referenced from this link: https://www.brandonsanderson.com/the-ten-orders-of-knights-radiant/ Well, I think I may have stumbled onto something, I believe that the progression of the ideals is correlated with the clockwise direction of the Herald Wheel. I think it's best I explain using each character so we can go in order: Windrunners 2nd Ideal: “I will protect those who cannot protect themselves.” —The Second Ideal of the Windrunners (as spoken by Kaladin and Lopen) The general motto and purpose of the order. Great. 3rd Ideal: These all have a common theme between them. They each maintain what is a positive distance between what they want to do and what they need to do. There is an order that focuses on moral justice and fairness, more specifically understanding that the rules must be followed over personal attachments. Like the Skybreakers. Their order is all about fairness and it makes sense that Windrunners would add a standard to this ideal. 4th Ideal: I accept that there will be those I cannot protect!” — The Fourth Ideal of the Windrunners (as spoken by Kaladin) Kaladin utters these words when he notices that his friend Teft is dead and he nearly resorts back to the state that did in Kholinar from Elhokar's murder. He is faced with death and will face it more. In order to progress as a leader he must accept that death is a possibility for everyone around him, no matter how hard he tries otherwise. Kaladin is always the first into a fight, he can't help himself. But when he is unable to accomplish his duty, he folds. Bravery is about moving forward despite what perceived failure one might face. While this seemed like an easy villainous act to kill Teft outright but it was actually clinical. He must have noticed how Kaladin reacted to Elhokar and then Roshone, knowing full well this would break him. Something that is a common theme among Dustbringers (I can sense the Moash Dustbringer theory fans rubbing their hands together in delight) The main goal of the Dustbringers is self-control and Kaladin will not be able to function optimally if he's not able to keep it together. 5th Ideal: I AM STORMBLESSED! We obviously don't know the last but I think some of you can tell where I'm going with this. It has been brought up on numerous occasions regarding Kaladin's medical background: He was meant to be trained as a surgeon in Kharabranth. He has trained those under him to render medical care. He talks with Syl about turning into a scalpel. He's trying to join the ardenture as well as help the mentally ill. During the tale end of RoW, we see that Kaladin had misremembered or rather misunderstood Tien's final moments and decision. This moment was instrumental in him reaching the 4th and I believe will play a bigger part in KoWT. These are all traits that an Edgedancer carries out. We know in Book 5 he is traveling to Shinovar to do some healing, in what way we don't know yet. Based on the order's focus on the simpler people, I would imagine he will be focusing on them. Other forms of overlap are that the Edgedancers were made up of nobility or at the very least had the demeanor of one and there are a number of instances in books like WoK and WoR have glimpses of his past with him being teased as a 'lordling' or 'wannabe lighteyes' to paraphrase. Both orders are noted for being scouts and accomplished weapon masters. Skybreakers 3rd Ideal: “I swear to follow the will of Dalinar Kholin. This is my oath. ” —The Third Ideal of the Skybreakers, as sworn by Szeth I skipped to the third to get more to the point. The order of Dustbringers is about being brave and obedient and with this specific oath, the Skybreaker has become precise and how they pursue justice. This guideline can be a law or an individual, in this case, Dalinar. Releasers are about self-control and holding themselves accountable. Szeth has struggled very similarly to Kaladin but in an even more grotesque way. His destructive power is known throughout Roshar as the Assassin in White. The man who killed many, in particular, Gavilar the brother of the man he now serves. 4th Ideal: I will cleanse the Shin of their false leaders, so long as Dalinar Kholin agrees. ” —The Fourth Ideal of the Skybreakers, as spoken by Szeth Here is where I start to stretch things a bit. From the phrasing of the words, it sounds like he is taking out an infection. The last ideal was about learning the boundaries under Dalinar's supervision and now he is acting out his sense of justice with his master's consent until he becomes his own. Edgedancers are all about remembering and this quest is very personal to him and he hasn't been home so he would find that his memory of things will be misconstrued or turn out a lot different than he remembered. Another thing to note is that if my theory is right - Both Kaladin and Szeth are on the same level of progression in the story. Kaladin is on his 4th and working on the 5th with Szeth currently working on the 4th. 5th ideal: I AM THE LAW “If you progress as a Skybreaker, you will need to become the law. To reach your ultimate potential, you must know the truth yourself, rather than relying on the crutch presented by the Third Ideal. Be aware of this.” —Szeth's highspren on the Fifth Ideal Szeth-son-son-Vallano is truthless. Was born in the Valley of Truth. The title is the next release is Knights of Wind and Truth. Need I say more? But in all honesty, will this hasn't been confirmed that I believe Truthwatchers has a resonance of empathy. They can feel people's emotions and in order to be the best law enforcer you need to balance upholding the law with the spirit of said law and how it translates to those involved. Edgedancers 3rd Ideal: “I will listen to those who have been ignored. ” —The Third Ideal of the Edgedancers, as sworn by Lift This one is connected to observing people. In particular, in this case, Lift is trying to convince Nale to see the ever storm which was the first time it forced him to acknowledge his conviction of killing Radiants was misplaced. 4th Ideal: "I will remember to care for myself/I will remember where I came from/I will remember who I used to be." Lightweavers are all about realizing who they really are and noticing the lies people tell themselves. Lift wished that she wouldn't 'grow' anymore but from a physical aspect she's growing. I imagine there is still something left in her past that we haven't come across. Maybe she will admit that she isn't a child anymore? 5th Ideal: "I will always cherish/remember what is most important about myself." Since we have so little on the Elsecaller oaths I can only go off of the purpose of the order which is to reach their potential. In terms of a character arc, this feels like it matches for someone who doesn't want to grow up but will eventually grow up while still keeping the parts of her that define her. Truthwatchers 3rd Ideal: "I will tell someone my truth." I remember towards the end of Way of Kings when Dalinar had commanded Renarin into battle, he tried to convince Dalinar otherwise because he was having his visions or he had seen something that scared him. Anyways, I think he might have sworn his ideal just before he told Dalinar and Adolin about him being a Truthwatcher in Oathbringer. Their order struggles with telling and giving others the information they possess. I even imagine that a lot of starter truthwatchers weren't upfront when they got their bond. 4th Ideal: "I will advise only on the best possible outcome." We get to the Elsecaller aspect which is about potential and the draw would be that with the vast amount of knowledge they know, they would prefer to give the information in a way that does the most good. However, I step out on a leg and say that Renarin's corrupted aspect takes root here. The scene that makes me think Renarin is close or has sworn his new ideal, was his involvement with Taravangian up to getting executed by Szeth. That scene involved T becoming a God. If that doesn't get you shardplate, I don't know what will. 5th Ideal: "I will seek to enlighten those who wish it." There is a subset of truth watchers that are linked to investigative journalists in some of the new info that came out with the release of RoW. Giving people certain amounts of information can be absolutely devastating so the Truthwatcher in question must be sure that the person they are presenting their information in the most altruistic manner even if the main consensus might disagree with it. Lightweavers 2nd truth: “What am I? I'm terrified. ” —A truth as spoken by Shallan It's obvious that most of her arc is about overcoming her fear by using various identities or telling even more painful jokes. 3rd truth: “I'm a murderer. I killed my father. ” —A truth as spoken by Shallan[7] The best connection I can come up with this is the fact that Shallan's father was the one thing stopping Shallan's growth as an individual. We knew that he had saved Shallan after her attempted murder and then covered it up. Whether overtime due to the influence of the unmade or his own personal frustration, his desire to protect Shallan turned into one of abusive control. Her brother might have died had she not poisoned and strangled her father and had she and her siblings never tried to leave, who knows where the family would have ended up. 4th truth: "I killed my spren." -Paraphrased truth spoken by Shallan I don't think it's any surprise that Shallan spoke this truth in RoW that is centered around Willshapers. Blocking out the death of a spren, especially in an environment where killing spren is the biggest taboo within Shadesmar. This is also the time when Shallan loses her persona of Veil. 5th truth: "I am RADIANT!" Shallan has one alter ego left, Radiant. The Stonewards are focused on team dynamics and working with others. We can see glimpses of this with Shallan's 'Unseen Court', her operation with Adolin in tracking down the Sons of Honor, etc. But has always kept things close to the chest with her interactions with the Ghostbloods which she ended in RoW. Up until this point she had one foot in the door and out the other by keeping her dealings a secret until the end of the latest book. It will be interesting to see how all that pans out but at this point, Shallan should be divorced of her wishy-washy attitude to things and acknowledge who she really is. Shallan the RADIANT! Elsecallers As we have no official oaths to link from, I'm just going to base what I think each ideal is off of clues in Jasnah's life. 3rd Ideal: "I will express what I think is the truth" We have a small timeline of seven years off which Jasnah has been bonded to Ivory as her flashbacks to the night of her father's death was were we get a mention of Ivory's appearance. I'm not 100% sure when she started making her secular views open but I will she sure of an ideal when she made such a thing public. 4th Ideal: "I will trust those beside me" For the longest time, Jasnah was on her own in regard to her philosophical views and her knowledge of Voidbringers. The closest was the Veristitalian, which is a group of scholars. I believe she wsore this oath in Oathbringer around when she is considering killing Renarin lest he betrays them all. 5th Ideal: "I will protect the potential for a brighter future." We see Jasnah in RoW standing on the front lines with a blade and plate on. This sort of thing is usually, Kaladin and Dalinar or even Szeth sort of thing. She is coming out of her comfort zone but Hoid reminded her that she is kneecapping herself for the sake of 'fairness' that even she can recognise is pointless. The Windrunners are some of the best warriors in the Radiants along with Stonewards so if my theory is correct, it makes sense this is where Jasnah would be. She is the current Queen of Kholinar and based on her intentions, the last monarch of Kholinar. I don't know how things will pan out but she will be wearing a crown of some sort for the foreseeable future. Willshapers 3rd Ideal: Venli at the end of RoW is now searching for a home for the singers that have left the Fused. Venli up until this point has only been figuring out a means of emancipation for herself and those who are like-minded. But the next stage will be establishing a community will all these singers that have various views despite their shared desire for independence. Most likely they will face persecution from Oduim's forces and she must now have a way of defending these people which means a militia of diverse forces must be established. 4th Ideal: Once her settlement is established, there is a high chance that they will set Venli up as their leader but she will be extremely hesitant to take it or pursue this. 5th Ideal: This will most likely be the most difficult challenge for Venli. For someone who had years of resentment for following the traditions of her tribe only to be shunted in favour of her adventurous sister was what brought on her desire to bring back the Fused. We saw this clearly in the flashbacks of her before the Alethi arrived. I think this definitely makes sense. Let me know what you guys think. Am I full of it and projecting too much or am I doing a poor imitation of someone else's post?

Tallet was well aware of the Herald he was named after. Most people that he knew growing up were named after Jezrien or Kalak; his was a much more unique name. When he asked his father if he was named after any relatives, the answer was a simple denial, followed by dinner in awkward silence. It wasn't because of any events in his parents' lives, either; they had simply decided on the name for no specific reason. At the time he was born, his parents hadn't thought that the meaning of a name had any importance, so they "went with what sounded good." They applied that philosophy to the raising of their family; decisions of any kind were made with patience and deliberation, but with no particular reasoning behind them. He had inherited his parents' attitude in his employment, going by whim applied with some measure of diligence. He became a sphere-maker, melting glass and forming it around small gemstones so they would be protected against wear and tear. It paid well enough that Tallet never thought about pocketing any spheres, but it was certainly monotonous. While working, he would think about his purpose. Not his Calling; that was glasswork, which he admittedly did not spend much time doing other than in sphere-making. Tallet's purpose, in his eyes, was to try and emulate his namesake. Taln was called the Bearer of Agonies, among more understandable titles. Tallat was especially curious about this title; after all, the Heralds had suffered equally grave wounds in their battles against the Voidbringers. During the Desolations, they suffered the privations of their armies and people equally, or so he had gathered from Vorin teachings. What made Taln stand apart from the rest of them? Once, when he had asked for the reasoning behind this, he was told that "Talenelat'Elin volunteered for the most deadly of battles, and sacrificed himself first before the other Heralds. After the Final Desolation, he was last to join them in the Tranquiline Halls. They had left him behind briefly, because they trusted him to win a battle that turned out to take several days." After hearing this, he was then given an hours-long treatise on the attributes and accomplishments of the other Heralds, circling back at the end to the Final Desolation. He resolved to go to the Order of Talenelat for answers that wouldn't be drowned out by descriptions of other Heralds. He enjoyed the teachings of the order, and learned far more about Taln than he thought would be possible. That earlier treatise about the other Heralds was a rockbud on the chull that was Herald knowledge. As the years went on, he listend to books that discussed Taln or his Order of the Knights Radiant; he did not have access to all of them, but occasionally the chance would arise to travel to Kholinar to visit the larger libraries. When news came of Dalinar Kholin refounding the Knights Radiant, Tallat was dumbstruck. He had heard rumors of the Kholin highprince being erratic at times, but he hoped this was not one of those times. He was of the opinion that the Radiants abandoned, rather than betrayed, humanity. If they were returning, then Tallat might get to join their number. Or, at the very least, he could witness them in temples the Order of Talenelat, for surely they would spend time receiving training from the ardents. In only a year, Alethkar was occupied and he had yet to see a Stoneward. From hearsay, a Radiant could be any ordinary person, but they needed to bond a spren beforehand. Tallat hoped that he would get to hear of someone doing so, but the occupying force kept him from hearing anything from the outside. To make matters worse, he was removed from sphere-making and relegated to pottery, something he had no expertise in. When he told this to his immediate superiors, they replied that the resident potter had died or fled, and that glassmaking was the closest skill that could be found among the populace. With no rebuttal for that, Tallet got to work and hoped for Radiants to show up. Day after day, week after week, with no end in sight.

I'm making a Dungeons and Dragons class based on the Knights Radiant and I've hit a snag with regards to these two surges. All help is welcome. Thanks

We know what most of the Surges of the Knights Radiant do, but we don't know the abilities that the Surges Cohesion and Tension grant. The WoR Ars Arcanum speaks of the "Strong and Weak Axial Interconnection", but what are these? After looking at the Wikipedia page for Cohesion, I have realized just how powerful the Surges of Cohesion and Tension may be; Cohesion is the property of like molecules sticking together. Cohesion is what holds a solid together, and what gives water its surface tension. With the ability to manipulate cohesion, these are some of what a Surgebinder might be able to do: Tension: Walk on water by drastically increasing its surface tension. Tension: Solidify air by increasing the attraction between its molecules. Cohesion: Vaporize people and objects by removing all Cohesion between their molecules. Cohesion: Use any sword as a Shardblade by weakening the Cohesion of molecules around the blade. Basically, a Surgebinder wielding Cohesion could melt or vaporize any object without changing its temperature, by decreasing molecular cohesion. This could be very useful in a fight as you could simply dissolve your opponents or their weapons. Tension, on the other hand, increases molecular cohesion, so it could be used to solidify objects. Please post replies of what you think that Cohesion does!

SPOILERS It seems like there was quite a bit of detail in WoR of the Unkalaki people to suggest that they will become important in the near future. Could this mean a new character from the Horneater peaks? The Horneaters are very loyal, trustworthy, stubborn and good fighters (depends on which son) as we can see by rock. All of the traits of the horn eaters seem to match the traits of the Stonewards. There is also the fact that the horn eaters are desperate for shards which is why they send their fighters against the Alethi's Shardbearers. As we know the horn eaters have never won and it would be an interesting story if one of the Unkalaki actually won (and stonewards would fit because they are known to win against the impossible). This would also give an opportunity for further change in the princedoms and hired (not really) muscle for the Knights Radiant. Its obvious that the Knight's Radiant needs to recruit, and it would be interesting to add a Unkalaki. Plus a stoneward Horneater would be a friggin' beast!! Any thoughts?

So I've had a fun idea floating around in my brains recently. There's very little evidence for it, but that's never stopped me from coming up with crazy extrapolations. This idea is mostly based on chapters 19: Starfalls and 52: A Highway to the Sun. These Dalinar visions are some of our only eye-witness accounts of Radiants in action, and they have something in common: two orders of Radiants working (or betraying all of mankind) together, wearing blue and amber plate. Windrunners and Stonewards, hanging out. Maybe, they were good friends. Maybe, they were best friends. After all, if you were going to abandon the world, who would you want by your side? And maybe, just maybe... the other orders had best friends, too. Thoughts and Observations: In any military action, it's stupid to work alone. You have much better chances of surviving with someone to watch your back. If you have a specialized set of skills and attributes in an environment that can throw a variety of situations at you (ie: War), it's smart to team up with others who's skills compliment your own. We haven't yet seen a Radiant working without at least one other Radiant nearby. An Interesting Fact: Stonewards and Windrunners mirror each other on the surge chart: So here is my crack-brained, woefully-lacking-in-statistically-significant-evidence theory: All ten Radiant Orders were paired with their mirrored order, based on the surge chart, and these order pairs consistently cooperated with each other to achieve their goals. Discuss.

Please note: this theory is currently REDACTED due to steelhunt. Once certain info comes into the public domain I will unredact. If you have a steelhunt code already and want to discuss redacted areas privately, I am very happy to do so This is mostly building on Isomere's theory: The Tanavallah: a Surgebinders Guide to Harmonics: {http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/3301-theory-the-tanavallah-a-surgebinders-guide-to-harmonics } Please note a lot of this is my speculation, and getting thoughts down, please do add comments/refutations. SURGEBINDING Ok so here is the adaptation on the table at the back of WoK that Isomere put together: (LINK) Here is Isomere's original version: (LINK) And here is my adaptation. Working heavily off the table found on the Coppermind about the Ten Essences: (LINK) Blanks are currently unguessed. Where it says 'see note' this is due to redaction IMAGE PARTLY REDACTED EDIT: Thanks to a number of fantastic comments, I've had a good rethink and have changed the table from the one here {LINK} to the one here (also shown below): {LINK} The table has been developed thanks to discussion and analysis of Brandon's readings. The large circles represent the Order of the Knights Radiants where the small represent the Surges. The numbers on the picture correspond to the table (PARTLY REDACTED) below also provided for reference {LINK}: Main Changes and notes: General: Which parts are physical/cognitive Honor/Cultivation are up for debate, although I'm leaning towards top Honor, bottom Cultivation. Number 1: We know that the top right 2 surges (for 1) are Gravity and Pressure but not which way round (corresponding to the Windrunners. {LINK} I think Gravity and Pressure are correctly assigned as pressure works better with Smoke than gravity. Number 2: Smoke & pressure > Dust. Seems to make sense. WoB is that Dustbringers ARE an order of the radiants. [ Signing 2 at about 27 mnutes ; thanks to Miyabi for pointing out]. The dustbringers are theorised to COMBUST items which also suggests heat, whereas light is used elsewhere in the table. {LINK} Number 3: Brightcallers are a theorised potential Order. This is the only place I can see them. It may be this order that can 'control the sunlight' by manipulating heat? Number 4: Redacted Number 5: Growth, Light, plants. Number 6: Working on the assumption this is where Shallan fits in. (Shalash/Shallan ties are well documented (creativity etc) importance of Blood, etc). Memory may be an extrapolation of light and sight abilities, and we know about the soulcasting. We know that lightweaving makes an appearance in SA {www.theoryland.com/intvsresults.php?kwt='lightweaving'} . WeiryWriter noted the following: "Lightweaver was a possible title for Shallan's book and there was a uncited quote ...that Shallan would have three apprenticeships, Jasnah, someone, and Hoid who we know uses lightweaving." So it looks light Lighweavers fits well here, and means Light is attached to 5 and 6, which makes sense. Complementing quotes can be found by searching for 'lightweaver' here: {LINK} Number 7: Jashan hints at the end of WoK that she has a different combination of surges than Shallan, and given they both share the ability to Soulcast it makes sense that Jasnah is here. The reason I've put her here and NOT 5 is that Jasnah is 'bad with organics' i.e. life forms, plants. Seems odd she would fit in 5. That hints that transportation is between 7 and 8. Number 9: We have been told travel is one of the surges{www.theoryland.com/intvsresults.php?kwt='surges'} and Miyabi has stated Stonewards can travel, although I haven't seen the quote, her statement is here: {LINK}. It is certainly speculated due to the Stoneward suddenly appearing in Dalinar's vision. We know that regrowth was combined in a fabrial using topaz and helidor and we have seen the order of stonewards use such a fabrial. This originally led me to suspect growth was between orders 9 and 10 however Moogle pointed out the gemstones could be there to Target bone and flesh, which makes more sense in the overall structure. Also, if growth was a Stoneward power they would not need to use a fabrial. {LINK} Number 10: We have confirmation that Order 10 is the Skybreakers. As Gravity manipulation would give the ability to fly, Travel is probably not a Skybreaker Surge and so must be between 8 and 9. { LINK - Search for Glyphs } Double eye: I've been thinking about the double-eye symbolism and it would make sense if the two pupils represented the merging of Honor and Cultivation. The double pupil (see image below correspond to the Flesh and Plants orders (5 and 10). This would suggest that order 10 (men) is part of Honor and order 5 (Plants) is part of Cultivation. Also, note the links between orders (big circles). 5 and 10 are linked. 4 and 6 are linked to 5 (Cultivation) 1 and 9 are linked to 10 (Honor) 1 and 4 and 9 and 6 are linked; suggesting the counterpoints for Honor and Cultivation respectively? 2,3,7, and 8 are linked to the central point of the diagram, i.e. between 5 and 10, an equal mix of Honor and Cultivation. I am coming to the view that the top half is more Honor, and the bottom half more Cultivation. Cultivation: Plants, Blood, Crystal {Loving, Learned, Creative, Healing, Giving, Honest} Honor: Men, Air, Stone {Protecting, Dependable, Pious, Leading, Resourceful, Guiding} Equal mix: Metal, Oil, Smoke, Fire {Just, Confident, Brave, Obedient, Wise, Careful, Resolute, Builder} VOIDBINDING I've gone through the Theoryland archives and dug out the items from the following articles that I think are interesting to this discussion as they pertain to Voidbinding; (Keywords: Surges, surgebinding, voidbinding, shardblades.) Also included are some WoK Quotes We have also seen, in addition to the tables above, the table dubbed the ‘table of dissonance’: ( LINK ) It follows a similar layout to the double-eye of the Radiants and each of the surges (or voids, as I shall call them) is represented as a de-symmetrised version of the surge on the normal table; indicating, it seems, some sort of twisting of the surge. Voidbinding is mentioned in WoK as having to do with trying to predict the future – that would suggest some manipulation of time, which is why I believe time is one of the voids. We also know that there are 3 main over-arching magic systems: Surgebinding, voidbindings, and a third which is related to fabrials: Q:You have told us there are more than 30 magical systems on Roshar. I am assuming there are 10 surgebindings and 10 voidbindings. Do the next 10 belong to another such classification? If yes, can you give us the name for it. A: Fabrials are part of it. Now, we know Szeth has similar abilities to Kaladin, a potential Windrunner, however: Q:Does SzethsonsonVallano's Surgebinding require HonorSpren like Kaladin's? A: No, it does not. (Hm....) Gold star to you. Q:Is there a link with the fact that we know that Szeth is truthless and the fact that Honorspren are what cause Surgebinding? Is there a connection there? A:There may be. I won't say. That's a RAFO. Szeth isn't actually in an order of Knights Radiant. Something different is happening with Szeth that people have already begun to guess. And Kaladin isn't yet a Knight Radiant, but the powers he uses are those of the Windrunners, one of the orders of the Knights Radiant. Szeth is using the same power set. The symbol stamped into the front of the first hardcover represents the Windrunners because of Kaladin's awakening as a Windrunner. Also because of Szeth, but mostly because of Kaladin We know that glyphs can be written in many pictoral forms. In the surge table, they’re written to style as a sword (WoB), in the table of dissonance as (speculated) an animal, but the last quote suggests they represent the same overall glyph. Additionally, we know that Szeth is using the same power set but is not using Radiant-powers. And, we know that there are 3 sets of 10 powers; surges, voids and something relating to fabrials. I hypothesise that voidbinding voids correspond to surgebinding surges, except for the manner in which one obtains these powers (spren-bond versus other means, possibly relating to Szeth’s oathstone). Therefore, if predicting the future is a voidbind (as is alluded to in WoK), some manipulation of time is also a surge. There may also be Void orders - Ghostbloods maybe? There’s also an interesting extrapolation to do with Shardblades. Syl has stated that she prefers Dalinar once he gave up ‘that thing he carried’ (his shardblade) Also, we know that the Radiants abandoned their blades and Taravangian says to Szeth: “that monstrosity of a shardblade you carry” Q: Was Syl’s appearance and behavior caused by Kaladin giving up his shardblade? A: It was a major fundamental factor in what happened between them. So it seems that honorspren/ radiant-binding spren have some aversion to shardblades for some reason; this may be why Szeth does not surgebind, but voidbinds? We also know that he is not allowed to give up his blade which ties in to this theory. This theory is slightly complicated by the fact that we are told: Q: Is there a functional/structural difference between modern-day Shardplate and the stuff the Radiants wore? Did the Radiants have to use infused gems to keep their suits going or could they just 'breathe in' Stormlight and feed the suit off of their 'inhaled' reserves? A: Something is different. You will find out what. Q:Is there any ramifications to the holder of a shard blade for using a blade in a manner that it wasn't intended? A:Depends on the type of Shardblade. (You have seen three different kinds in TWoK.) For most, no. For some, most certainly. So we cannot be sure if this is Syl’s aversion to all shardblades or just one type. However, 3 types of shardblade could correspond to the 3 types of magic; Honorspren might only like honorblades, regular shardblades might be part of the fabrial set and Szeth’s ‘monstrosity’ might be some kind of voidblade. Also, on the point of voidbinding, we know from Navani’s notebook translation { Link to wiki, search for Navanis Notebook } that fabrials are powered by trapped spren (you could say, a spren Bonded to a gemstone). Surgebinding required bonding to spren, but what about voidbinding? Szeth is the most likely potential voidbinder we have seen, and the only similar item I can think of is his oathstone. Some kind of oath, perhaps, secured in an item is necessary to gain voidbinding powers? Q: With Szeth, the Assassin in White, is he tied to the [Oath]stone or is it a genetic thing or is it kind of like a spren? A: RAFO Q:What did Szeth do to become a Truthless, and is there anything else involved in being a Truthless that we haven't seen?" A: Szeth was perceived as betraying his people in a fundamental way, and you will learn more about that when his book comes along. Q:Is Szeth bound to a spren? A: No. He's not. Q: Was Vallano, Szeth's grandfather, also a Truthless? And if not, what did he do to disgrace the Shin? A: No, Vallano was not Truthless. Szeth was a very respected member of his society, once. There are clues to what happened in his story, but you won't hear it in full until he gets his book. (Which will include his flashbacks.) Q: Is Kaladin naturally stronger than Szeth in using Stormlight? Szeth can only hold onto it for a few minutes, but Kaladin has been shown to hold onto it for much longer. Or does it have to do with Kaladin having a spren? A: Ah, so you all noticed that, did you. Glad you did. I have like a dozen things I nearly posted here, but all of them spoil a scene in Words of Radiance. So I'll just zip it for now. Voidbinding and Surgebindings probably have their own set of limitations. Surgebindings may be more powerful but perhaps voidbing can be done to anyone, via an oath-bond, or perhaps it has more far-reaching applications. Apologies for the ramblings!