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  1. Hi friends, I am new to the 17th Shard and this is my first post here. Now what I am about to discuss here is not entirely my theory, most of it has been theorized by the fandom for quite some time now. I am just gathering the most probable ones together and see if it fits to form a mostly cohesive narrative. Spoiler Alert for all of Stormlight Archive, including the chapter of Wind and Truth released by Brandon. So, with that complete I am going to discuss the possible ending of Stormlight 5 and maybe some plot points that can be expected in the back half. Now there are dozens of characters in the Stormlight Archive each having their own compelling stories, but predicting the ending for each of them is impossible. So I will be focusing on just 4 characters, the 4 most important characters to the narrative of Stormlight Archive, the 4 characters who started it all: Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar and Szeth. Yeah, Brandon pretty much says they are the key. So, let's examine their paths and come to a conclusion for each of them. I think that will give us a pretty good idea of where Book 5 will end. Shallan So, Shallan. Her story is basically finding out who she is, confronting it and accepting it. Pattern said that Lightweavers don’t have oaths, but they have truths. This is because of their unique position as spies. Knowing their truths will keep them grounded, since they impersonate other people there is a possibility that they may get lost in the role they are playing so they must know who they are. This is why Adolin was the right choice for Shallan and not Kaladin. Adolin knew which one was the real Shallan, the woman he loves. So far Shallan has spoken 3 truths: She killed her father, She killed her mother, She killed her spren. With the third truth Veil merged with Shallan and only Radiant is left. So, the next truth will be the one where she and Radiant merge and it will happen in Wind and Truth. One of the biggest Chekhov's guns that Brandon planted but never used in his the series so far is that Kaladin is the one who killed Helaran. And this is her reaction when she learns of it. Yeah, she suppressed it. I am not suggesting that she is going to fight Kaladin in book 5 because of this, quite the opposite really. And it comes down to Shallan’s mother, the herald Chanarach. Yes I believe Chanarach is Shallan’s mom especially after the release of Book 5 Prologue. Again it is not my theory but it is already there. The basic premise is, Chanarach has red hair just like Shallan and she had connections to the Skybreakers and tried to kill Shallan because she was a radiant. We also know that Taln didn’t break and this theory explains that too. In the book 5 prologue we learn that one of the heralds died on the day of Gavilar’s feast, which happened six years before the Way of Kings, exactly the same time period when Shallan killed her mother. She killed her mother Chanarach and sent her to braize. Chanarach endured the torture for 6 years before breaking. So, Taln didn’t break. This will be Shallan’s final truth. She is the one who is (indirectly) responsible for the desolation. And I don’t think Shallan will be able to ignore or suppress the truth that she pretty much caused the end of the world. I think at this moment of shame all her suppressed emotions will come out including her brother’s death. Then there is Chanarach herself, who will not be happy to learn that her eldest son was killed by Kaladin. This is my theory, Chanarach will confront Kaladin over Helaran’s death and try to kill him. At the same time, despite knowing that Kaladin killed her favorite brother, Shallan will choose to help Kaladin by fighting her own mother whom she very much still loves. Choosing Honor over revenge and her mother. Shallan will merge with Radiant and become a fully realized Lightweaver and possibly even revive Testament. Shallan will also survive Book 5, and go on to transform her Lightweaver Radiants into a cosmere wide spy network with the help of Hoid (who is also a Lightweaver) in order to fight the Ghostbloods. Dalinar Dalinar is the one on whom I am most conflicted. I mean his character arc pretty much came to a conclusion in Oathbringer with the You cannot have my Pain moment. There is really nothing much to develop in Dalinar except for the Duel he has with Odium. Now, Taravodium is not that different from Raysodium. So, Taravodium wants to rule over the entire cosmere and he thinks he will do a better job than the current shards. So, what he wants is simple, to be free of the Rosharan system, while also maintaining some control over it. So what is the way for Taravodium to get what he wants? Brandon has removed Rayse and introduced Taravangian as Odium because Rayse doesn’t have that fear factor anymore. So I think Taravangian will get what he wants. So Dalinar will somehow end up breaking the contract. It wont turn the Stormfather into deadeyes but it will let Odium to corrupt the Stormfather, potentially ending his ability to supply Stormlight. Szeth Szeth’s character is all about finding the truth himself. First he followed his religion blindly, then he followed Nale blindly and now he is following Dalinar blindly. His character arc is to break free of this and learn to distinguish right from wrong by himself. To learn what is the truth without blindly following others. Szeth’s fourth Ideal is ‘I will cleanse the Shin of their false leaders, so long as Dalinar Kholin agrees.’ And he will complete that successfully. But it won’t be the end for Szeth, by the end of book five he will be a 5th Ideal radiant. This is what Nale says regarding the fifth Ideal So imagine, Szeth completes his 4th ideal and returns to Urithiru, to Dalinar and what does he see? Dalinar has broken the contract, the law. Szeth will be forced to confront the reality that Dalinar was wrong and following him is not the right way. This is when he rises higher and swears his fifth ideal, becoming his own man. After that Szeth will kill Dalinar, thus stopping Odium’s corruption on the Stormfather from getting much worse. Since he would be using Nightblood to kill Dalinar this might even sever his bond to Stormfather and Honor. Odium will then transform Dalinar’s cognitive shadow into a Fused. Kaladin Well if there is one thing I am certain about our sad depressed bridgeboy, it is that he will live. The entire point of Kaladin’s character arc is that no matter how good and powerful he becomes there will always be those he cannot save, and he has to learn to live with it. And Kaladin finally achieved that in RoW, so killing him off in Winds and Truth even if it was a heroic self sacrifice will not be satisfying. Also he is being set up as a therapist for the Heralds. So, what do I think will happen with him? Well, he will Ascend to honor. There are many references to this in the books. Kaladin’s very first POV chapter is named “Honor is Dead”. Then there is that moment in WoR where he says, “Honor is dead, but I’ll see what I can do.” Brandon pretty much said that Kaladin never felt the Thrill because of Syl, but he was not bonded to Syl in Amaram’s army. Syl seems to remember Kaladin’s childhood despite not being bonded to him at that time. His connection to Aesudan as he recognizes the tune she is singing. He is also related to her by blood for some reason. In Oathbringer Kaladin killed, like actually killed a corrupted spren using Syl. The corrupted spren died like Phendorana. Then in both Oathbringer and RoW he commanded the Windspren to blow back the storm itself and they did it. Honestly there is so much more to Kaladin that is very similar to Vin from Mistborn. There is the Child of Tanavast. Overall? So what is it that I am trying to say? Well the Duel of the Champions will not be the final act of the book. It will probably happen at the end of Part 3. The true final act, the Sanderlanch will not be at Urithiru or Shinovar, it will be at the Shattered Plains. There a loophole in the treaty So after the Duel, there will be a final battle between the Radiants and the forces of Odium at the shattered plains. It will probably be for Ba-Ado-Mishram, each racing against time to get her for themselves. Only the Radiants will be low on morale and Stormlight due to Dalinar’s loss. They will be losing against the forces of Odium when the Singers led by Venli and Rlain join the battle to help the Radiants. Oh, and they will probably be riding on Chasmfiends as in RoW we saw them controlling one at the end. It is after this Kaladin will ascend, and by this point I think he would have lost Syl. Syl would be alive, but he would have lost his bond with her. I think Ishar would have brought Syl into the physical realm by this point. So how will Kaladin ascend? This is what Hoid told Kaladin in one of the SA 5 chapters released by Brandon What I think will happen is, during the battle Kaladin will play the Flute, and he will play the Rhythm of Honor. Just like how Navani produces Towerlight from a Rhythm, Kaladin will produce Stormlight with the Rhythm of Honor. This coupled with his near deity-like status in Urithiru among the Radiants and the recently forged alliance between Men and Singers will help Kaladin reassemble the Splintered Shard of Honor and Ascend. Maybe he might have help form Ba-Ado-Mishram, or Hoid, or Cultivation or even Dalinar. This will give the edge the Radiants need to defeat Odium’s forces. Szeth will probably fight and then convince Nale to rejoin the side of the Radiants, thus bringing the Order of Skybreakers back to Honor. Moash will have his redemption journey and will take Jezrien’s place as a herald. I am not sure exactly how this will happen but I am confident Moash is on a redemption path. Once the battle is won, Kaladin as Honor will reform the Oathpact and seal away the Fused. Only this time he will go to Braize along with all the Heralds. His presence will allow the Heralds to fight back against the Fused and give Kaladin enough space and time to perform Mental Therapy on them. The back half of the books will deal with the scarcity of Stormlight, the Men who have bonded Odium’s spren like Aesudan, The introduction of Lifelight through Lift. A shadowy war with the Ghostbloods over Investiture. Now although Odium is free from the Rosharan System, he has also pretty much lost control over Roshar and the Fused. So he will return in the end back half for a Final Confrontation. This is when Kaladin and the Heralds return from Braize. By the end of Book 10 Dalinar will break free of Odium. Since there are so many Corrupted spren and unmades like Sja-anat who go against Odium, perhaps by the end of Book 10 Kaladin will splinter Odium and take it up himself and become War. After all, Kaladin is described as a passionate man many times. This will set the stage for an overall cosmere wide conflict. Harmony vs War vs Autonomy vs Endowment etc…
  2. Crack theory bc why not Disclaimer, the only proof of this theory is what I think would be cool to see and would lead to some crazy stuff in later stormlight books and idk i don't see a reason why it couldn't happen. So, Zahel, Vasher, I think he will do the thingy he did in war breaker w the little girl but with the heralds, erasing huge chunks of memory to get rid of their madness (which would probably take huge amounts of investiture but idk shallan could do a heist bit and steal purified dor from the ghostbloods or something) and they, or some of them could become sane again and idk imagine taln being sane and fully capable or omg IMAGINE IF HES THE VILLAIN OF SECOND HALF bc he's righteously raging about what they did with the oathpact anyway idk Vasher hasn't been very present in the books and he's up to something clearly in rhythm of war and I don't think he's in stormlight just as a fun little cameo which I am a sucker for anyway but I think that his arc in the books will be explained and have a conclusion which could be he saves the day but at the same time kind of dooms humanity yet again or at least creates some other conflict for second half. In any case, we're gonna find out and Vivenna is also gonna be there and it will be so good even if it isn't what I just pitched lol. For additional proof(?) we're also dealing with some memory erasing stuff with Hoid and all that so maybe that inspires Vasher or the Radiants to that kinda thing. Anyways, first ever redacted theory guys, I hope someone is on board or on the other hand you can completely debunk it which is also fun, peace.
  3. After rereading Sunlit Man and hearing about the grand apparatus, I started thinking about what Canticle could actually be. I'm not speculating what it's for in this post, but it started that way. When I got to the part where Nomad realizes that the planet is sucking up the sun's investiture, I had a sudden thought that I think has some merit as a theory. Could Canticle be awakened somehow? The transfer of heat on Canticle seems to only work for things that are "alive" and it has to be done with specific intent when something without a conscience is involved. So my theory is that the planet is able to drain the sun's investiture by using the same method that the beconites and whatnot use to transfer heat, and it can do this because it was awakened for that intent. I looked to see if there were any WoBs that deconfirmed this or if anyone had made a similar theory but I couldn't find anything, so if you have any feedback that would be appreciated.
  4. so... who is pushing for the creation of instant noodles? I would like to submit... why? great question! we know that Kelsier likes instant noodles: so CLEARLY he wants them to be made, and this is why Hoid dislikes him so much. they are both competing to get instant noodles first. this is why the ghost bloods were formed, to get enough power to scadrial to power their magical ramen production plants, making the best Ramen in the whole comer.
  5. Okay, having read all the Secret Projects and all the (currently published at time of writing) books, I have a theory about what the Primal Commands that the Dawnshards represent, and how they tie Shardic Intents. The crux of my theory is 2-fold, that the Commands Dawnshards are related to the 4 Spiritual Components: Connection, Identity, Fortune and Investiture (or the 3 Spiritual Properties plus Investiture) and that as they were used as part of a weapon that split Adonalsium into the sixteen Shards and that these Commands helped form and shape the Shardic Intents; this is being extrapolated from the Mural that Rysn saw in Dawnshard. This makes some sense to me, as the Cosmere was made by Adonalsium using Investiture [citation needed, but I think it's a safe guess] and these 4 Commands. From this, I think the 4 Dawnshards are: Connect (This is the one that Hoid and Sigzil held and relates to Connection) - You can't harm living things, as they have Connection, since you'd be destroying Connection instead of forming it and binding things/creatures together. This is also reinforced by the fact that holding this Dawnshard makes you connected to everything in the Cosmere and I postulate that skipping works by Sigzil rewriting his Physical Connection to the Planet/Location in Space - I am unsure how Hoid has such a strong connection to Fortune as I don't think he holds the Fortune Dawnshard, but that could be because he changed his Connection to Fortune, or it could be related to his past while Adonalsium was still alive. Control (Relates to Fortune) - Since seeing how things move and work on a Spiritual and Axi level (so both in very granular Time and Space) probably allows for insanely fine and accurate control of Investiture and relates to Future Sight. Change (Relates to Investiture) - As Investiture wants to change from Potential to Kinetic, it wants to Change itself from one state into another. This is also reinforced by the idea that Rysn was explicitly told to not learn any Invested Art and that this is likely the Dawnshard which destroyed Ashyn. Also, as explained by Sigzil, that a creature holding a lot of Investiture - like the Chared and a being that is holding a lot of Stormlight - wants to act/change/do things. I think the reason that someone with a lot of Breaths don't have the same compulsion to act/change/do things is because Breaths are Innate Investiture and not Potential like Stormlight is. Capacity (Relates to Identity) - This most likely provided creatures with Identity when Adonalsium was creating the Cosmere. This one might be semi-self aware, like a Spren, and I think is likely the one that Sanderson mentioned is different from the others, as the other Dawnshards just have self-preservation as we learnt in "The Sunlit Man". Applying these to Shards, my idea is that opposite Intents cause tension between Shards and that these are related to the corresponding different Dawnshards that created/split them and the Spiritual Attributes/Primal Commands that Dawnshards themselves represent. This would also be why some Shards are better at Future Sight, for example, and why some have differing abilities/relate to the Commands used to control Investiture within their corresponding magic systems. (I don't think that all of these manifest directly, but sometimes they do like how Honor bound Odium to the Roshar System as he is closely tied to Connection and also require the need to form a Connection with a Spren to work.) I assign each Shard 2 different Dawnshards/Primal Commands that they are related to - a base one related to which direct Dawnshard they are most directly related to and then a secondary Intent/Dawnshard/Primal Command/Spiritual Attribute. Shardic Intents: Connect (Connection/Binding People/Not Harming Others) (Opposite of Change) Devotion : Capacity (At tension with Dominion, yet their powers work together as the Dor - so together they have opposite primal Intents/Commands. Devotion and Odium can also be argued to be opposite to each other.) Preservation : Connect (Opposite of Ruin and wants to keep everything the same.) Honor : Control (Was Married to Cultivation, and is said to uphold oaths and agreements, and to bind things together.) Mercy : Change (Not much is known about their intent, but Harmony (pure Connection and Change) became troubled by Mercy as a result of their exchange.) Change (Investiture/Entropy/Growth/Action) (Opposite of Connect) Ruin : Change (Opposite of Preservation and the manifestation of Entropy.) Cultivation : Control (Has good Future Sight, Cultivation's intent as a Shard appears to be related to transformation. In her own view, on the other hand, she wishes to grow things and people, and prune them if need be, to shape them in a desired form, even if she accepts that there will always be a degree of uncertainty.) Invention : Capacity (After that initial contact, Harmony was unable to locate Invention again - so maybe wants to be free and by itself?) Virtuosity : Connect (Virtuosity's Intent concerns artistic intent, and artistic talent, and artistic appreciation. It is said in Yumi that Art needs an Audience.) Control (Fortune/Power) (Opposite of Capacity) Odium : Change (Has good Future Sight, wants to be the only God in the Cosmere, said to be the vengeful anger of God. Opposite of Devotion.) Dominion : Control (At Tension with Devotion, Dominion's focus was probably related to amassing and maintaining control over others. Their powers, with Devotion, work together as the Dor - makes sense as they have opposite base Intents/Primal commands.) Wisdom/Prudence : Capacity (Can foresee the Future very well, wants to be left alone and away from the coming conflicts. Antagonistic to Hoid (who would have picked up Endowment if they were to hold a Shard at the Shattering), so makes sense that they have opposite base Intents.) Valor : Capacity (Wants to help Hoid, understands the issue which Odium shows, but very little is known about them yet.) Capacity (Identity/Self Determination) (Opposite of Control) Endowment : Control (Their Intent is not entirely clear; it's likely related to bestowing gifts or talents upon others. They are able to ignore their Intent somewhat, as they don't provide Hoid with help (which would be a form of Endowment); but this could be because of disagreements between Hoid and Edgli, related to the differing Intents that she and the Dawnshard that Hoid holds are or because Capacity Intent allows for some amount of self-determination. But there are certain things they are looking for when endowing Divine Breaths. They also have some capacity to perceive the future and bestow those visions upon others, so likely has some advanced Connection to Fortune.) Autonomy : Capacity (Autonomy wants to remain alone; she does not wish to be corrupted by other Shards and thinks that all Shards are better off on their own. Her philosophy is very much focused on the survival of the fittest. Under Autonomy's world order, one must earn their right to keep existing, so it makes sense that they are the purest form of Identity.) Ambition : Connect (Disliked by Endowment, but unsure if that is related to their opposite Intents or a disagreement between the Vessels.) Whimsy : Change (Not much is known, but they are said to be not congruous with intense planning and ambitions. It is also not calculating nor deliberate, so no relation to Control. Likely either Connect or Change.) All the information in brackets is from the Coppermind and WoB's. I am open to some of these being changed as we do know very little about most of these Shards, but we do know that some are truly opposite, like Ruin and Preservation and Devotion and Odium. Please let me know if you have any different ideas or modifications of this idea, but I am fairly confident of the broad strokes of this theory having read "The Sunlit Man" and "Dawnshard".
  6. Firstly, this post is not to say how I think fabrials will operate in the future, but rather how I would like it to be. I also wrote it from the point of view of a Silverlight inhabitant in Era 4, since it greatly facilitated my inspiration when writing. If you have questions, I will answer them, since I am aware that there are some argumentative holes ;-). Mechanical Fabrialism is the use of Spren and their interactions with polestones. We could classify them into four classes of Fabrials: α, 0, 1 and 2. Categorized according to their realmatic implications. To start with the α class fabrials we have Urithiru, a giant tower-shaped structure with multiple mechanical functions, in addition to the structure itself and its functions being modifiable by the Sibling (a Godspren) and his linked radiant knight. The mechanical functions of this type of fabrial seem to be influenced by the properties of the essences associated with the polestones; see, the reason why the Sibling is inside a Ruby and not a Heliodor (as might be expected) is because the function of the properties associated with the Ruby will be those necessary for the work it is expected to perform: Soul, the Sibling being the metaphorical (some would say literal) soul of the tower, and the Spark possibly being the property that allows it to generate light. In addition, all the Garnet veins that are distributed seem to play the role of the “blood” that forms the entire interconnection system of the tower. Class 0 fabrials are those that require two true sprens, these fabrials appear to be directly under the command and administration of the Sibling and act on some of the Surges. An example we have of this class of fabrial is the Oathgates, a fabrial Surge that manages the transportation surge. The manufacture of these fabrials as far as I have been able to investigate, consists of 4 steps: the first is to obtain a perfect gem according to the fabrial that we want to create; then that perfect gem is filled with light from the tower; then 2 Sprens that share a surge enter the gem (now called seed) and are finally taken to the place where it will manifest so that the Bondsmith of the Sibling accepts the oath of the Sprens to form said fabrial. There are two aspects of these factories, push and pull. The difference between these two lies in the perfect gemstone used for the creation of the fabrial, below is a list of the 8 types of push-type class 0 fabrials: Gravitational engine (Sapphire | Honorspren & Highspren) Gravitational engines are estimated to have been created even in the heraldic era of Roshar, but given the technological capabilities and the political environment that existed, they did not see much use in them. Gravitational engines are the means by which Rosharian ships sail through space in the physical realm. This is done through a process that some call great lashing, where the ship is introduced into a gravitational singularity that bends space and creates a fast track towards the desired destination. Splitter Cannon (Smokestone | Highspren & Ashspren) Splitter Cannons are, as their name indicates, cannon-shaped artifacts. They are the main defense mechanism of the Rosharian ships during any battle carried out in space; their range of action and damage to other structures varies depending on the design with which they manifest in the physical realm. According to a Rosharian legend, these were not created due to the opposition of the herald Ishar, although for my part, I consider this legend as apocryphal given the existence of the Hierocracy as a historical period in Roshar, a historical period where a large part of the records were lost due to the intentional modification of the history. In more recent times, they have entered into "production" given the need to stop depending on the 4th ideal Windrunners or the even rarer 5th ideal Skybreakers for deep space battles. As an additional note, these are the class 0 fabrials that can vary the most in size, ranging from occupying the volume equivalent to an Oathgate (more information below) to being as small as a standard pistol (this being its rarest form). High-Bubble (Ruby | Ashspren & Cultivacispren) High-Bubbles are one of the most curious class 0 fabrials. At first, they look like 10 square-meter spheres that are completely smooth except for the gap where the shardblade necessary to activate it fits. Once activated, it generates something very similar to the speed bubbles that cadmium and bendalloy allomancers can create a bubble that, although it does not have properties as mystical as time manipulation, has the subtle effect of deflecting most physical projectiles. With a radius of less than one inch, I know it doesn't sound very spectacular, but it is essential for ships that travel in space. This is the perfect cover for microparticles that travel in a vacuum at speeds high enough to pierce thick metal covers. Great sowing (Diamond | Cultivacispren & Mistspren) What can I say about the Great Sowing? If I said that the previous fabrial was curious, this one is downright strange. To begin with, this fabrial works only with lifelight, yes only and exclusively lifelight. This is strange considering that the others, besides Stormlight can run on hybrid lights and even purified Dor (the common fuel for gravitational engines). And the strangeness doesn't end there. The great planting in its retracted form is composed of four pillars that, to begin to function, require 13 "units of measurement" to be separated; no matter which one you choose, they have to be 13. When it begins to function, the entire area within its perimeter begins to become the best type of soil for whatever you decide to plant. Each cycle lasts a local week, and in Roshar, for example, it works very similar to the Urithiru sowing, attracting lifespren... during that first cycle. If the fabrial is used again in the same area for a second time, instead of attracting only lifesprens, it begins to attract all kinds of emotional sprens (there are recorded cases of sightings of Alesprens). This creates slight mutations in the planted flora that can be summarized in a slight streak of color that goes from the root to the highest stem and a change in the flavor of what is harvested. It is believed that this is due to the sprens beginning to bond to the plants. If the fabrial is used a third time in the same area, it begins to attract natural sprens and these trigger deeper mutations in the plants, from changes in color, thickness of the bark, alteration in size, etc. Although it may seem wonderful to some, the possibility of bonding more problematic sprens such as Anguishspren is still worrying. When I was researching for this entry, one of my colleagues told me that there was a rumor that this type of fabrial began to be more regulated when a Truespren ended up bonded in one of those plantations. The fine workings of this fabrial are also fascinating. The particular reason why it can only be activated by lifelight is because the fabrial enriches the earth (or Rock) with small traces of Koravedium, which, throughout the week in which the fabrial is in operation, is absorbed by the plants in the specified area. As final notes, while this fabrial is known to have been used outside of Roshar, the effects appear to be more attenuated on planets where no cognitive entities are present, presenting slight mutations. And it is not known what would happen if it were activated in Treno Lighthouse (Emerald | Mistspren & Cryptic) The truth is, I don't have much to say about the lighthouse beyond being the neuralgic center of all Rosharian research regarding gaseous investiture. I think that if it had been planned to build it during the so-called desolations, everything would have been finished in less than a year. Although information is scarce given the incredibly intense surveillance that the Urithiru government has over the building, it is known that its control allows the easy conversion from investiture to anti-investiture, and the same for the creation of hybrid lights. Landcasters (Garnet | Criptic & Inkspren) Landcasters are, for some, one of the greatest milestones of fabrial science and, for others, one of the greatest weapons it can provide. I will say it clearly: Landcasters are terraforming fabrials as they were used in the kingdom of Aimia to modify its terrain, flora, fauna and climate. Being one of the most complicated class 0 factories to manifest, and also one of the most difficult to control. Landcasters works similarly to conventional soulcasters, only that instead of dealing with an individual object, you end up dealing with an entire region (or at least the cognitive ideal of what a region represents). This type of fabrial requires a lot of willpower to use, as well as a very specific idea of what you are looking to achieve. After its first activation, the factory needs a constant supply of investment to solve the small details that arise until the change in ecology is stable. If said change cannot be stabilized for any reason, the supply must be perpetual. Oathgate (Zircon | Inkspren & Reachers) I don't think I have much to explain about the Oathgates, they are the most famous class 0 fabrials as they were the first to be rediscovered by the Rosharians. They allow instant movement to another Oathgate in the physical realm and also transport users to the cognitive realm. Soil fluidizer (Amethyst | Reachers & Peakspren) The Soil fluidizer is one of the most used fabrials for landing Rosharian ships. Although they usually remain in orbit when for some reason it is decided that the ship should go down to the planet, this fabric allows it to penetrate below the surface and stay there, allowing an easy landing and making it easier to hide the location of the ship. Something interesting to comment on is that, in several records, I find that these first 8 fabrials are easier to manifest as Bondsmith than the next 8. It seems worth mentioning to me given that certain characteristics of the push-type fabrials seem well... pushing nature out of its normal course. While the pull-type, fabrials seem to reinforce the already-existing characteristics. Gravity Normalizer (Smokestone | Honorspren & Highspren) The Gravity Normalizer is a fabrial that allows you to control the intensity of gravity in an area. It is common for a Rosharian ship to have one of these to adjust the gravity within the ship. Cold oven (Rubí | Highspren & Ashspren) The cold oven is a fabrial that allows the user to systematically and organizedly decompose anything that is inside. Commonly, the radiant orders use it to recycle materials from any object by breaking it down into its simplest materials. But in the case of the Dustbringers, this fabrial has a truly fascinating use, being able to deconstruct any artifact without minimally damaging its pieces. This has allowed the Radiants to reverse engineer many of the inventions of the other societies in the Cosmere. It is known that he has been able to extract a breath from an awakened object, but when exposed the breath dissipates (perhaps returning to Endowment) Practice room (Diamond | Ashspren & Cultivacispren) To be honest, the Practice Room is more of a tourist attraction than a real training place. Within this place everything is affected by the surge of abrasion, that is, everything slides. Originally intended as a safe place for squires to practice their fencing or other martial arts in difficult environments, over time it became used by the children of the tower as a play area. Healing room (Emerald | Cultivacispren & Mistspren) I think the best presentation for this fabrial is on the sign at its entrance, "No Drabs or Trenodites Allowed". The first time I went to Urithiru for field research, I really missed that sign. Why would they place such a message there? The answer came to me from my guide: it seems that the healing room is an extremely powerful healing fabrial, too powerful. During the first contacts of the Rosharians with the rest of the inhabitants of the cosmere this was one of their offers of friendship. In a place where even poorly anchored cognitive shadows can adjust correctly to their bodies, people pierced by hemalurgic nails can fully recover, as well as completely recover a body regardless of the patient's self-image. This is apparently because this fabrial connects directly with the spiritual realm to perform the cure, without cognitive filtering. The problem came when an attempt was made to treat a Trenodite and the poor madman suddenly turned into a living Umbra. Regarding the issue of the Drabs, it is also for their own good, more or less. As soon as a Drab (a person native to Nalthis who has given up his BioChromatic breath) enters the factory, he recovers something very similar to a breath, except that it is Cultivation investiture (Yes, like its fabrial pair, this one only works with lifelight). What at first seemed like good news soon showed signs of turning into a very big social problem, as many tried to turn this into an infinite breath machine, injuring Drabs in some towns and then extorting them and asking in exchange for leaving them alone. The new "green breaths". When the Knights Radiant found out, they put an end to the matter by prohibiting their entry (although there is evidence that at least the Windrunners travel in small groups to Nalthis themselves, looking for Drabs who need medical assistance). Theater (Garnet | Mistspren & Criptic) The Theater is by far the most difficult fabrial to manifest, basically because, like the Landcasters, they require a perfect garnet to create, this being the most difficult polestone to get (even counting with the next fabrial on the list) and also belonging to the fabrials pull-type. According to the data I have, there is only one copy of this fabrial, located in a chamber deep in Uritiru. It is managed by the Lightweavers and can replicate a scene exactly. There is not much more I can say since, although the Lightweavers are not as suspicious of the Theater as the Elsecallers and the Truthwachers would be with the Lighthouse, they do tend to disguise the statements of what can really be done there, to the point of having a lot of conflicting information about its operation. Mother shaper (Zircon | Criptic & Inkspren) I believe without a doubt that Mother shapers are the most important factories in Rosharian technological development. Basically, these allowed the mass creation of class 0 factories by being able to cast a perfect polestone. They look like a black box at least 3 meters high and with a lid to enter the materials to be used for Soulcasting. Although technically any radiant can use it, the laws of Uritiru state that only a 4th ideal Elsecaller or a specially approved Truthwacher or Dustbringer can use them. It is not known exactly why this regulation was created, but it reportedly came into effect after a Midnight Essence infiltration incident. Mother shapers are extremely precise Soulcasters, allowing perfect polestones to be replicated through the use of the essence of Lucentia, as long as their user knows exactly what the required crystalline structure is and the arrangement that the axes must take to replicate it. Beyond this, it has also allowed the easy manufacture of high-entropy materials on scales high enough to verify their mechanical properties. Surpassing in this aspect the Skadrians whose technology is somewhat limited by the allomantic properties of the metals with which they usually build their ships. Shardrive (Amethyst | Inkspren & Reachers) Yes, in the previous position on the list, I said that it was the most important fabrial for Rosharian technological development. Well, this is the most important for your expansion in the Cosmere. The Shardrives allow space travel as it is currently conceived; although the gravitational engines create the path through which the ship traverses, the Shardrives are the wheels that travel that path. Using the Transportation surge, they can keep a ship running in space for a long period of time. Stone Pantheon (Topaz | Reachers & Peakspren) Concluding with the Stone Pantheon, this fabrial has the peculiarity that, unlike the previous ones, it manifests the sprens that make it up in the physical realm, such as two 4-meter statues at the entrance. Within the pantheon, there are multiple humanoid forms with which one can converse; these are actually the souls of the stones that take that form when exercising the surge of Cohesion. The purpose of this fabrial is to be an easy record of history, accessible for any query. As you can read, class 0 fabrials cannot use Tension or Adhesion. This would be due to the logical limitations involved. Resulting in a total of 16 class 0 fabrial. A good number. Class 1 fabrials are all those ancient fabrials that require a true sprens to function. These fabrials, like what happened with the bonds that the sprens formed in yesteryear to provide the surges, are speculated to be a product of the sprens seeking to imitate the type 0 fabrials, but unlike the first ones (the orders), they may have required the intervention of the Bondsmith and perhaps an Elsecaller, to be produced. Just as type 0 fabrials present the peculiarity that the Spren is not found in the inserted gem, instead they seem to have a more intrinsic bond in the structure, some believe the spren manifests directly in the physical realm, while others They postulate that they are found in the crystalline structure of the metal itself. I have not been able to obtain one to refute any claims in this regard, but I particularly believe that it may be a middle ground, so to speak, where the spren manifests in the physical realm but requires the presence of additional materials to "attach" to. I can confirm the existence of 9 types for this class of fabrials: Lashing fabrial Decay fabrial Slicking fabrial Regrowth fabrial Lightweaver fabrial Soulcaster fabrial Elsecaller fabrial Stoneshaper fabrial Reinforcer fabrial They are currently out of use given the ease of building class 2 fabrials and that they do not meet the level of results of class 0 fabrials, in the words of some Rosharians that I have interviewed, "it is more useful to have more radiants." Finally, class 2 fabrials would be all modern fabrials, fabrials that function due to the interaction of the spren contained in gems and their respective metal cages. The metals used to create these fabrials are allomantically viable metals. In their first versions, the class 2 fabrials had the spren locked in the polestones with a cage made of a specific metal to stimulate the spren's reaction. Part of the cages were drilled into the gems in order to complete the circuit. Since the incorporation of duralumin, this is no longer necessary since it serves as a conductor of the effect of the metal and the investiture of the gem, thus creating a mechanism (very similar to that of class 1 fabrials) where the gems are inserted into a base of duralumin, thus maintaining the structure of the gem and maximizing the living space of the spren. Although it may not seem like it, the type of spren used to operate a fabrial affects the requirements for the metals that will be used. Natural spren is affected by the metals of the physical quadrant of Allomancy, while emotional spren is affected by the metals of the mental quadrant. The metals of the improvement quadrant are a wild card in all their implementations, especially the pair of aluminum and duralumin, which ended up being a perfect insulator and a superconductor, respectively. And the last thing I have to mention regarding class 2 fabrials is the incorporation of temporary metals, especially gold and electrum. The incorporation of these into the construction of “smart fabrials” with the use of Logispren has created something that, for artifabrians that may result in a new technological leap comparable to that of awakened metalminds. I want to end this essay by mentioning that no matter how hard I tried, I could not find information about those supposed fabrials that use Godmetals, and I think that if they exist, they should be one of the best kept secrets in Roshar. Now, as for the real me, I appreciate that you have read this far; it took me about 3 hours to write and review everything. I apologize for any grammatical errors you may have read, and I would love to know what you think.
  7. I'm unsure of where we officially learned this, but I learned in Tress that the material dragonsteel comes from the scales of dragons. I didn't think much of it at the time, but then I started thinking about how there are essentially zero mythical metals besides the god metals. So considering that this elusive material is meant to be at the core of the plot to the Dragonsteel book, it is either regular metal that's been specifically invested, or it's god metal. Considering that God metal can manifest in a multitude of ways, I wouldn't consider it impossible if dragonsteel was secretly Adonalsium's metal. We've already seen spren manifest as metal and we know that nonhuman creatures in the physical can interact with the cognitive realm to a degree. Although interacting with splinters and the cognitive is typically exclusively Rosharan, I wouldn't be surprised if some really weird stuff was going on with the dragons considering we don't know a whole lot about, or at least I don't. That concludes my brief theory. If you see any holes in my logic or whatever feel free to say... I never know how to end these...
  8. (THERE IS A TL;DR AT THE BOTTOM, DON'T WORRY) In my last post I discussed a theory that the Dawnshards corresponded to the Three Realms (calling those Exist, Feel, and Connect) plus Change, that each had a push-pull and internal-external alignment, and that every Shard corresponded to two Dawnshards, one first and one second, thus having a primary Dawnshard alignment and a push-pull and internal-external alignment corresponding to the second Dawnshard. I also discussed how it appeared that if a Shard's first Dawnshard formed a push-pull pair with the second, then they ended up "rebelling" against their Dawnshard alignment. The primary examples I used were Preservation, against Change, and Autonomy, against Connect, with a theory that Mercy is against Feel. However, due to Prudence/Wisdom/Survival (I'll call it Prudence) probably being an Exist Shard and this WoB it seems quite likely that, if this theory has any merits at all, Prudence should be the Shard against Exist. If we assume that, then, we have a slight adjustment to the previous chart, which I'll take a moment to adjust now. Anything that I've said in the previous post I'll leave fairly short and uncited so there isn't too much redundancy. First off, we assume Ruin and Preservation form a push-pull pair, and if we believe Ruin that he is the "True" Shard of Change (which I do), and we consider them to be the External Temporal Shards to correspond with the effects of Bendalloy and Cadmium, we again have Change being the External Pushing Dawnshard, making Exist the External Pulling Dawnshard, making (by our assumption) Prudence the External Pushing Physical Dawnshard. The arguments for Prudence and Whimsy being a push-pull pair still hold, in my opinion, so this would make Whimsy the "True" Shard of Exist. The "Rebel" Shard opposes the "True" Shard, which again makes sense with Odium and Mercy, and Honor and Autonomy. Feel and Connect have to be Internal, and Duralumin and Aluminum do seem to correspond quite well with Honor and Autonomy (who in turn are associated with Connection and Identity) so making Honor the Internal Pushing Spiritual Shard, and thus making Connect the Internal Pushing Dawnshard and Feel the Internal Pulling Dawnshard, fixes the other three. This does still make Odium correspond to Copper and Mercy to Bronze, which I personally do not like, but at least they have the same push-pull orientation as Rioting and Soothing. The rest fall into place quite well, using much the same arguments as before: Gold and Electrum correspond to Cultivation and Invention, Chromium and Nicrosil correspond to Ambition and Endowment, Tin and Pewter correspond to Virtuosity and Valor, and Zinc and Brass correspond to Dominion and Devotion. The one change, Valor and Virtuosity being Internal, does hold quite well with the metals, especially if Valor's Intent is indeed more like "Functionality" or "Efficacy" where Virtuosity's is more like "Artistry". The chart is, then (reordering things a little so the corners correspond to their proper Dawnshards): SPIRITUAL Pushing Pulling Pushing Pulling COGNITIVE Internal Honor Autonomy Mercy Odium Internal External Endowment Ambition Devotion Dominion External Internal Invention Cultivation Valor Virtuosity Internal External Ruin Preservation Prudence Whimsy External TEMPORAL Pushing Pulling Pushing Pulling PHYSICAL This is what we will be going with from now on. So, onto what you're here for: attempting to categorize every bit of magic in the Cosmere. We start with the biggest question: Can we categorize how Shards influence the Cosmere as a whole? I propose that they do so in four ways, which correspond to Dawnshards. The first are the mundane consequences, like Honor's existence enforcing the fundamental forces: Or Preservation and Ruin enforcing the first and second laws of thermodynamics. I will claim these are the "Natural Laws", corresponding to Exist. Then, you have laws of how Investiture works: I again argue that the first and second laws would be from Preservation and Ruin. I'll call these "Arcane Laws", corresponding to Feel. Next, we have what I'll refer to as "Invested Laws", corresponding to Connect, which have the following properties: They do not require any Connection to their Shard or a specific kind of (or unkeyed) Investiture. They require a supplied Intent which aligns with the Intent of their Shard. These three categories of Shardic influence also have one overarching property: they are largely unaffected by the Shard itself and whatever state they may be in. We have two clear examples of this, I believe: the first is Hemalurgy, which I claim is Ruin's Invested Law, and the second is Bonding, which I claim is Honor's Invested Law. Finally, we have "Invested Arts", corresponding to Change, which have the following properties: They require some kind of Connection to their Shard. Their Shard can exert a measure of control over them. They require that the user be Invested with Investiture keyed to their Shard. They involve use of kinetic Investiture. They can be taken by power-stealing Hemalurgic metals. Allomancy, Surgebinding, Forgery, and Sand Mastery are some clear examples. I'll further claim that there are two more properties: 5. They each have 16 sub-arts, each of which also have a Dawnshard/Internal-External/Push-Pull orientation in addition to the main "pinnacle" art. 6. An Invested Art can be affected and modified by a Shard or Shards that are not one it belongs to. So let's start with the Natural Laws, since we know relatively little about them, since our real-world knowledge of physics doesn't fully apply to the Cosmere. We do know the Laws of Thermodynamics hold, and that the first and second are of Preservation and Ruin, and we also know that "obeying the fundamental laws" is of Honor. We also know that the Strong and Weak Axial forces exist, corresponding to the Surges of Cohesion and Tension, but it's hard to say exactly who they'd belong to. Given that Hion lines appear to be somewhat related to electricity, one might suspect Virtuosity corresponds to light or possibly even the electric and magnetic forces, or perhaps given Virtuosity expressing the push-pull duality more prominantly: Virtuosity actually corresponds to some form of wave-particle duality. There's not much more to say about this aside from some even more baseless speculation, though -- maybe the Cognitive ones have something to do with how emotions work? Or how life works? Very hard to say. So let's put the four I have some reasoning for in the chart, and move on. SPIRITUAL Pushing Pulling Pushing Pulling COGNITIVE Internal Honor Things obeying the laws of physics Autonomy ? Mercy ? Odium ? Internal External Endowment ? Ambition ? Devotion ? Dominion ? External Internal Invention ? Cultivation ? Valor ? Virtuosity Something related to light or electricity Internal External Ruin Entropy Preservation Conservation laws Prudence ? Whimsy ? External TEMPORAL Pushing Pulling Pushing Pulling PHYSICAL We actually know a fairly large number of potential Arcane Laws: First Law: Investiture cannot be created or destroyed. (Preservation's?) Second Law: Investiture is subject to entropy. (Ruin's?) Third Law: Unknown, but it exists. Fourth Law: Unknown, but it relates to Adonalsium. Investiture can be Kinetic or Static. Investiture can be "keyed" to a Shard. (Dominion's?) Every form of Investiture generates some kind of emotion. (Odium's?) High concentrations of Investiture can dilate time. Raw Investiture is highly responsive to emotions and Intents. (Devotion's?) Connection. (Honor's?) Identity. (Autonomy's?) Fortune. (Ambition's?) Objects and entities can be Invested. (Endowment's?) Investiture tends to repel Investiture. (Could be part of Identity, given what Trellium does) Invested art "resonances". Large quantities of Investiture can become self-aware. Each type of Investiture has a color. And a taste. (Virtuosity's?) Solid Investiture is metallic, and each Shard's kind has a specific property. Investiture encodes a person's memories and "self". Invested people being healthier. (Cultivation's?) A cracked or broken Spiritweb allows for more Investiture usage. Every type of Investiture has an anti-Investiture. Every type of Investiture has a push and a pull. (Though this might not be a law, per se, just a consequence of the categorization. The existence of the categorization might be Adonalisium's Arcane Law, though. Who knows?) And there's probably some more possibilities out there that I've missed. Here are the ones I feel confident enough about to put in the chart: SPIRITUAL Pushing Pulling Pushing Pulling COGNITIVE Internal Honor Things obeying the laws of physics Connection Autonomy ? Identity Mercy ? ? Odium ? Investiture causing emotion Internal External Endowment ? Objects and people being able to be Invested Ambition ? Fortune Devotion ? Investiture responding to emotions and intents Dominion ? Investiture being able to be "keyed" to a specific Shard External Internal Invention ? ? Cultivation ? Investiture innately healing and bolstering Invested things Valor ? ? Virtuosity Something related to light or electricity Investiture types having different colors and flavors Internal External Ruin Entropy Investiture Entropy Preservation Conservation laws Investiture Conservation Prudence ? ? Whimsy ? ? External TEMPORAL Pushing Pulling Pushing Pulling PHYSICAL Now, onto the Invested Laws. Hemalurgy and Bonding are pretty straightforward: Hemalurgy can be done anywhere, by anyone, to anything, as long as there is some supplied intent to create a Hemalurgic spike and an Invested victim. Bonding is similar: as long as there's an intent to bond and a highly invested entity to bond with, you can bond with a ton of stuff across the Cosmere, from Aviar to Seons to Aethers to Nightmares to, of course, Spren. We also know that Bonds on Roshar do grant powers, but not the same ones: though it does seem likely that not all bonds would have some unique power, given that a cognitive shadow could bond someone and bonding giving powers isn't unique to Roshar though perhaps he's referring to lower-key powers like controlling Aethers. It is, again, hard to say, but according to that WoB, bonding is essentially the same mechanic everywhere, "just with different flavoring". Other potential Invested Laws might include: Investiture-based healing, which can be found in many Invested Arts and always has the same properties of healing the physical form to match the perception of "self", Lightweaving (not the surge, the power), and Elsecalling (also the power and not the surge). As per these WoBs: These three are noted as fundamental "powers", with Healing manifesting in various Invested Arts in the same way each time, Lightweaving being the "Illusion" power that's also manifested in several Invested Arts, and Elsecalling uses the same mechanic as a Perpendicularity. Given the prevalence of artists among Lightweavers, how art is often necessary to Lightweave properly, and Hoid's use of art alongside his own Yolish Lightweaving, it does seem likely that Lightweaving is of Virtuosity. Since gold corresponds with Cultivation, the Surge of Regrowth is of Cultivation, and everyone from Fused to Radiants is healing on Roshar, it does seem likely that Healing is of Cultivation. Healing and Lightweaving definitely follow the Intent of Cultivation and Virtuosity, respectively, but it is unclear what Intent Elsecalling follows. Perhaps we'll find out when we get a full explanation of how you use a Perpendicularity to travel between Realms, since that's a kind of Elsecalling that appears to have no requirements on the user whatsoever. Other possibilities for Invested Laws, such as fabrialcraft, which can work with any being of Investiture: and Soulcasting (given that it can be used through a fabrial and that such use can produce a Savant). Awakening is a big question, though. These WoBs: do seem to imply that Awakening can be done with anything, and with no Connection to Endowment, though her Investiture is best for it. We do already know that any Investiture can fuel any Invested Art, such as Ruin fueling Allomancy, but in that kind of case, there is still the Connection to Preservation (or the primary Shard in question), which is a marked difference. I personally believe that Awakening is an Invested Law, since Endowment does have some other magic which does seem to be more specific to her and her Investiture: Moreover, anyone with Breath can Awaken, and Breath is stolen with Nicrosil, not one of the power-stealing metals. I also suppose that the nature of what having a lot of Breath does to a person could also be seen to be an Invested Art, even if it might be an extension of her Arcane Law. And we know too little about using Connection to learn a planet's language and how so many worldhoppers become immortal (or at least age very, very slowly). So now, my chart: SPIRITUAL Pushing Pulling Pushing Pulling COGNITIVE Internal Honor Things obeying the laws of physics Connection Bonding Autonomy ? Identity ? Mercy ? ? ? Odium ? Investiture causing emotion ? Internal External Endowment ? Objects and people being able to be Invested Awakening (using Investiture to give a kind of sentience to an inanimate object) Ambition ? Fortune ? Devotion ? Investiture responding to emotions and intents ? Dominion ? Investiture being able to be "keyed" to a specific Shard ? External Internal Invention ? ? ? Cultivation ? Investiture innately healing and bolstering Invested things Healing Valor ? ? ? Virtuosity Something related to light or electricity Investiture types having different colors and flavors Lightweaving Internal External Ruin Entropy Investiture Entropy Hemalurgy Preservation Conservation laws Investiture Conservation ? Prudence ? ? ? Whimsy ? ? ? External TEMPORAL Pushing Pulling Pushing Pulling PHYSICAL And finally, for Invested Arts. Allomancy is obvious: it's Preservation's. Feruchemy, though, is much less so. In a previous post I detailed reasons why I thought Feruchemy was Ruin's Invested Art, and I'll summarize them here. Feruchemy isn't actually "truly" end-neutral. In fact, there's some decay. Shards can and do influence each others' Invested Arts, such as with Cultivation and Honor with Surgebinding. If Hemalurgy is an Invested Law, and not an Invested Art, then Ruin should have an Invested Art manifesting on Scadrial since magic "just kind of leaks out". Lerasium appears to be able to, just on its own (so without any Invested Art) be burned with an alloy to gain access to an Invested Art. Lerasium with itself (i.e. pure Lerasium) gives Preservation's Invested Art, alloying with a base metal can be burned to gain access to one of the sixteen sub-arts, and alloying with a god metal (and perhaps something else) can give you another Shard's Invested Art. I conjectured that burning Lerasium with a god metal tuned you to the Shard's art, and with a base metal tuned you to a specific sub-art. So if Sand Mastery was, say, Autonomy's Internal Pushing Physical Invested Art, then burning Lerasium with Bavadinium and Pewter would give you Sand Mastery. So what would a Lerasium and Atium alloy give you? It can't give you Hemalurgy, since that requires some kind of external power and not internal Investiture. But it could give you Feruchemy, as we know there is a way. And here's one more: First, Feruchemy is stealable by Hemalurgy, while Hemalurgy doesn't appear to be. Moreover, we know all Invested Arts can be stolen by Hemalurgy, and there is an odd relation between which metals steal Allomancy and which ones steal Feruchemy. Physical powers are stolen by Physical Pushing, Cognitive powers are stolen by Cognitive Pushing, Spiritual powers are stolen by Temporal Pushing, and Temporal powers are stolen by Temporal Pulling. However, for Physical powers, Allomancy is External while Feruchemy is Internal, for Cogntive, Feruchemy is External while Allomancy is Internal, for Spiritual, Feruchemy is External while Allomancy is Internal, and for Temporal, Allomancy is External while Feruchemy is Internal. Physical and Temporal powers correspond to External Dawnshards, while Cognitive and Spiritual correspond to Internal Dawnshards. This aligns with Allomancy, but opposes Feruchemy. If Preservation, and thus Allomancy, is Temporal External Pulling, then something in that classification is very likely to be the reason Allomancy aligns with the Dawnshards' internal-external split in Hemalurgy while Feruchemy doesn't. The most sensical, in my opinion, is a push-pull pair: pulling Invested Arts stay in the same internal-external space, while pushing ones go to the other one. So Hemalurgic Steel doesn't steal Physical Allomantic powers, it steals all Physical Pulling powers. And so, I think there's a very strong case for Feruchemy being Ruin's Invested Art. Some Invested Arts are pretty easy to place as a whole: Surgebinding is of Honor (with Cultivation's influence), Voidbinding is of Odium, and Old Magic is of Cultivation. Selish magics are pretty heavily blended between Devotion and Dominion, so the only way to tell which is which would likely be via Hemalurgic spikes (so if you took eight Elantrians and spiked them with Steel, Pewter, Brass, Bronze, Cadmium, Gold, Bendalloy, and Electrum, you'd be able to tell the Dawnshard correlation of Aon Dor and whether it's of Devotion or Dominion). Same thing for Autonomy's arts. Starmarks, Sand Mastery, the various Aviar abilities, and whatever was going on with Telsin's calculating powers do seem hard to pin down without experimentation, similar to how I bet it would be very difficult for a Feruchemist with no knowledge of Allomancy to figure out which metals were internal and which were external, even if they did know that pulling metals are pure and pushing are alloys. The other magics on Nalthis must belong to Endowment, but they're very vague. If the self-memory-erasing thing is in fact one of Endowment's sixteen sub-arts, it's probably Internal and Cognitive, but is it Pushing or Pulling? Does it correspond to copper or bronze? Copper is associated with memory, but this magic does seem to be doing the opposite of that. Perhaps copper's is how to imprint memories on Breath, while bronze's is how to erase them. I do have a rather wild theory that while most Shards' Invested Arts have to be fairly similar to each other, and are somewhat constrained by what existed before Adonalisium (as per one of the above WoBs), Autonomy and Invention are not at all limited by that. Autonomy's Invested Arts seem to be localized around, or perhaps based on, her Avatars, such as Patji and the Sand Lord. Invention, meanwhile, we know absolutely nothing about. But this WoB does make it seem like both of them are capable of making pretty whacky magic systems if they so choose, given that they're what Brandon would want for himself. So with these assumptions, our final overall chart looks like SPIRITUAL Pushing Pulling Pushing Pulling COGNITIVE Internal Honor Things obeying the laws of physics Connection Bonding Surgebinding Autonomy ? Identity ? 16 unrelated sub-arts Mercy ? ? ? ? Odium ? Investiture causing emotion ? Voidbinding Internal External Endowment ? Objects and people being able to be Invested Awakening (using Investiture to give a kind of sentience to an inanimate object) Other Nalthis magic? Ambition ? Fortune ? ? Devotion ? Investiture responding to emotions and intents ? Some of Sel's magic Dominion ? Investiture being able to be "keyed" to a specific Shard ? Some of Sel's magic External Internal Invention ? ? ? 16 unrelated sub-arts? Cultivation ? Investiture innately healing and bolstering Invested things Healing Old Magic Valor ? ? ? ? Virtuosity Something related to light or electricity Investiture types having different colors and flavors Lightweaving ? Internal External Ruin Entropy Investiture Entropy Hemalurgy Feruchemy Preservation Conservation laws Investiture Conservation ? Allomancy Prudence ? ? ? ? Whimsy ? ? ? ? External TEMPORAL Pushing Pulling Pushing Pulling PHYSICAL And, finally, let's move on to the subarts. Allomancy and Feruchemy are easy: each of the 16 subarts gives you access to the Allomantic or Feruchemical properties of one base metal and all its god metal alloys. Autonomy's two explored arts, Sand Mastery and Aviar, are the only ones we can properly speculate on for her, though perhaps we can associate Telsin's mental speed with Zinc and thus call it External Pulling Cognitive. Sand Mastery seems External and Physical, but the push-pull is unclear. Aviar seem to be able to somewhat mimic other powers in the Cosmere, but appear to be "built to be Cognitive" so I'd put the whole Aviar thing as definitely Cognitive. With Sel, Forgery is most likely External and Spiritual, given how it affect the spiritual aspects of things, and it's possible Bloodsealing is a push-pull pair with Forgery given the similarities. If that's true, then given Chromium's Hemalurgic and Feruchemical properties, it seems likely that Forgery would correspond to it and thus be External Pulling Spiritual. Then, ChayShan and Dakhor might both be Physical, and AonDor might be Internal and Spiritual. Finally, with Roshar, we only know enough to talk about Surgebinding, but its ten surges do have some easily classified elements. First, we definitely know that Honor put limitations on Surgebinding, which are now relaxing somewhat after his death, which does mean that while Cultivation has affected nine of the ten, they remain firmly "his" Invested Art. More supporting evidence for this is how Odium can directly grant the nine that Cultivation has touched, perhaps suggesting that if a Shard allows some parts of their Invested Art to become influenced by another Shard, those parts become more susceptible to being granted by other Shards. Adhesion is the "truest Surge of Honor", after all, and so is probably Internal Pushing Enhancement, and similarly Regrowth is the "truest Surge of Cultivation", and so is probably Internal Pulling Temporal. If we make the bold assumption that Ruin and Virtuosity correspond to Division and Illumination, respectively, we get: Adhesion: Internal Pushing Spiritual (Internal Pushing) Gravitation: Division: External Pushing Temporal (External Pushing) Abrasion: Progression: Internal Pulling Temporal (External Pushing) Illumination: Internal Pulling Physical (External Pulling) Transformation: Transportation: Cohesion: Tension: This doesn't look half bad, actually -- Adhesion and Division are two internal-external flips away, Division and Progression are an internal-external and push-pull flip away, and Progression and Illumination are a single push-pull flip away. It actually lines up. So if this is indeed the pattern, then Gravitation would be either Internal Pushing Temporal or External Pushing Spiritual, and Abrasion would be External Pulling Temporal or Internal Pushing Temporal. So Gravitation corresponds to Electrum/Invention or Nicrosil/Endowment and Abrasion would correspond to Chromium/Ambition or Electrum/Invention. Before we tackle that, let's also check Illumination to Adhesion: that's Internal Pulling (External Pulling) to Internal Pushing (Internal Pushing) in five flips. So we have three flips in positions 2, 3, and 4, and then one double flip that happens somewhere. Is this even possible, avoiding repetition? Turns out not only is it possible to get from Illumination to Adhesion, but if we have Gravitation be Internal Pushing Temporal/Nicrosil/Endowment and Abrasion be Internal Pushing Temporal/Electrum/Invention, we can get back using the exact same flips in the exact same order. If we flip positions 1, 3, 1, 2, 4, then 1, 3, 1, 2, 4, again, we get Adhesion: Internal Pushing Spiritual (Internal Pushing), Honor Gravitation: External Pushing Spiritual (Internal Pushing), Endowment Division: External Pushing Temporal (External Pushing), Ruin Abrasion: Internal Pushing Temporal (External Pushing), Invention Progression: Internal Pulling Temporal (External Pushing), Cultivation Illumination: Internal Pulling Physical (External Pulling), Virtuosity Transformation: External Pulling Physical (External Pulling), Whimsy Transportation: External Pulling Cognitive (Internal Pulling), Dominion Cohesion: Internal Pulling Cognitive (Internal Pulling), Odium Tension: Internal Pushing Cognitive (Internal Pulling), Mercy There's something quite nice about finding a somewhat natural symmetry in the magic system for the Stormlight Archives, given how symmetrical they like everything to be. (Note that there can't be a palindrome as a pattern, as two adjacent flips in the same position would cause a repetition.) There are even some decent correspondences: Transformation-Whimsy and Transportation-Dominion seem the nicest, though, as I find it hard to see what Odium or Copper has to do with Cohesion. And that's basically every magic system in the Cosmere that we know enough about! TL;DR I believe everything Adonalsium/Investiture-related in the Cosmere can be categorized by the push-pull and internal-external dichotomies. I've proposed a system for this from the Dawnshards on down. For example, I propose that Allomantic Steel is the External Pushing Physical (Internal Pulling) Invested Sub-Art of the External Pulling Temporal (External Pushing) Shard. I also propose that Shards have a Natural Law, the effect they have upon mundane physics in the Cosmere, an Arcane Law, the effect they have upon Investiture-based physics in the Cosmere, an Invested Law, a magic system that is a direct result of their power's existence and is more-or-less unrelated to them specifically, and an Invested Art, a magic system that they somewhat control and other Shards may influence. A Natural Law is something like gravity, entropy, or the "strong axial force". An Arcane Law is something like the Laws of Investiture, Identity, or Connection. An Invested Law is something like Hemalurgy or Bonding. An Invested Art is something like Allomancy, Surgebinding, or AonDor. Each Invested Art has 16 sub-arts. The best way to distinguish between an Invested Law and an Invested Art is to ask the following three questions: Can I steal it with Hemalurgic Steel, Pewter, Brass, Bronze, Cadmium, Bendalloy, Gold, Electrum, or pure Atium? Does it generally require that I be Invested with an Investiture keyed to a specific Shard? Can the power be obtained through a non-invested person burning a Lerasium alloy? If the answer is "yes" to all, it's an Invested Art or Sub-Art. If it's "no" to all, it's an Invested Law. The theory proposes some of the following potentially observable facts: The Dawnshards are Exist (or something corresponding to the Physical Realm), Feel (or something corresponding to the Cognitive Realm), Connect (or something corresponding to the Spiritual Realm), and Change. Mercy is against Feeling and is probably somewhat unstable. Prudence/Wisdom/Survival (whatever its real name is) is against Existing and is probably very unstable. Valor's Intent is "practicality" or "functionality". Feruchemy is technically Ruin's Invested Art. Lerasium alloyed with a God Metal grants the corresponding Shard's Invested Art. Adding a base metal grants the corresponding sub-art. Voidbinding and Surgebinding each have six unused powers which are currently only obtainable through Lerasium alloys. Autonomy and possibly also Invention each have the potential to create sixteen unrelated Invested Sub-Arts. Sand Mastery can most likely be stolen by a steel Hemalurgic spike. Bloodsealing and Forgery can most likely be stolen by a Bendalloy or Electrum Hemalurgic spike. And this is the full suggested chart. SPIRITUAL Pushing Pulling Pushing Pulling COGNITIVE Internal Honor Things obeying the laws of physics Connection Bonding Surgebinding Autonomy ? Identity ? 16 unrelated sub-arts Mercy ? ? ? ? Odium ? Investiture causing emotion ? Voidbinding Internal External Endowment ? Objects and people being able to be Invested Awakening (using Investiture to give a kind of sentience to an inanimate object) Other Nalthis magic? Ambition ? Fortune ? ? Devotion ? Investiture responding to emotions and intents ? Some of Sel's magic Dominion ? Investiture being able to be "keyed" to a specific Shard ? Some of Sel's magic External Internal Invention ? ? ? 16 unrelated sub-arts? Cultivation ? Investiture innately healing and bolstering Invested things Healing Old Magic Valor ? ? ? ? Virtuosity Something related to light or electricity Investiture types having different colors and flavors Lightweaving ? Internal External Ruin Entropy Investiture Entropy Hemalurgy Feruchemy Preservation Conservation laws Investiture Conservation ? Allomancy Prudence ? ? ? ? Whimsy ? ? ? ? External TEMPORAL Pushing Pulling Pushing Pulling PHYSICAL And the Surge list: Adhesion: Internal Pushing Spiritual Gravitation: External Pushing Spiritual Division: External Pushing Temporal Abrasion: Internal Pushing Temporal Progression: Internal Pulling Temporal Illumination: Internal Pulling Physical Transformation: External Pulling Physical Transportation: External Pulling Cognitive Cohesion: Internal Pulling Cognitive Tension: Internal Pushing Cognitive As before, this is all speculation oftentimes based on tricky WoB phrasing or outright guesswork. Particularly with the Surges, even if they do have a very nice symmetry. Take everything here with as much salt (or copper) as you please.
  9. This is a theory that I've been coming back to for a bit now. I was thinking about how atium and its alloy have distinct properties in the metallic arts. I know all god metals shown in the series so far interact with the metallic arts, but only atium works the same as the 16 allomantic metals. That got me thinking, are there other god metals that act similarly to atium? Atium acts like a temporal metal, but both it and its alloy see into the future, which is the mark of the spiritual realm. I started thinking about these as the spiritual temporal metals, to fit with external and internal. This got me thinking, are there other god metals that could act like the spiritual component to other categories? Could the honor metal and its alloy make up a spiritual physical metal? If so, what kind of effect could it give off? Although I think this is an interesting line of thought, it does however, break the pattern of 16 pretty soundly. Despite the fact that I don't think this is that plausible, I like how Brandon's magic systems follow a set of strict rules so you can speculate possibilities like this, and I hope that sharing this idea can add to other speculations. That's all I have for my strange theory. I hope I was able to properly articulate it and that it gives you something to think about.
  10. So, in RoW, it's revealed that Invested beings are Spiritually bound to their world, which is also hinted at in Mistborn Secret History. If that's the case, how is Hoid able to travel so much? He's a mistborn, awakener, sandmaster, and Lightweaver (plus whatever else I don't know about). I have two guesses for this. 1) Hoid's being pulled in so many directions at once that he can get anywhere 2) He's found a way to bypass the Spiritual Connections
  11. Now, I’m late to actually theorizing on Yumi, so this might have already been addressed. If it was, please let me know! So Masaka, the wonderful sleepless that she is, feels incredibly trans coded. She honestly tries harder to be human than any other sleepless we’ve seen, even going so far as to have a preferred name. And to be more specific to it, she vibes very transfemme to me. She says this; Which with both this and the fact that she’s always wearing a sweater (all praise the dysphoria/euphoria hoodie), I relate to her on a spiritual level. She cares a lot about “passing”, and absolutely adores Yumi’s comment on beating a very cute girl. I mean, that’s about the most clear representation that I’ve seen in a not explicitly queer form of media. My only wondering is how Brandon got the characterization across so well. Like-this is representation I would expect from another queer writer, not from a cis guy. Frankly, I think this is the best bit of queer representation (past maybe Shallan’s bi-ness) in the Cosmere at the moment. Do we have anything on how Brandon got to making Masaka’s character?
  12. So, if you haven't read the new KoWT interlude that was spoiled at Dragonsteel, here it is: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/522-dragonsteel-2023/#e16257 And STORMS that chapter is spicy. So, the first part entails the journey of a few minor Worldhoppers, and apart from them being taunted by Hoid and learning that another old lady is a knight radiant, nothing much Cosmere-Related happens. But then we've got Cusicesh, who appears out of the water at random, speaks to the people of Kasitor, telling them it's time to leave the planet, and opens a giant storming portal for everyone to run into. Yeah, that's right. Remember that little tidbit in Tress about the Iriali disappearing off the face of Lumar? Yeah, that's what just happened here. In fact, I'd wager that a similar thing happened on Lumar, as well as every other planet with myths about the disappearance of the Iriali. So a few questions remain: What's going on with the Iriali? How did this happen on all the other planets? Where does everyone go? AND WHAT THE SCUD IS GOING ON WITH SCUDDLING CUSICESH? Discuss.
  13. So, in the lost metal, Wax became mistborn from some lerasium he inhaled in the little explosion in his basement, right? A bunch of harmonium, which got exploded, is in the ocean. Is it possible that some lerasium was dropped into the ocean, to be found by someone in a further era, Or... Mistborn FISH!!! (This is a dumb theory. please do not think that I actually think that the concept of fish being allomancers is possible.)
  14. So, first things first, during TLM the Set were shown to have discovered how to use hemalurgy (likely with a Nicrosil spike) to strip a Scadrian of the extra bit of Preservation's Investiture that exists in all Scadrians. The same power that creates Allomancers. The Set scientists also mentioned that they used these spikes to actually make people into Allomancers, though only briefly for an undisclosed reason. (TLM CHP 47) I believe that reason is because of Identity. Because charging a spike is just like filling a Metalmind, Identity keys it to a specific individual, the one it came from. So in order to improve this method, you just have to find a way to Blank the identity of either the 'Donors' or perhaps just the receiver. Most likely the former. There exist several ways to accomplish this through F-Alumnum though the man issue is actually having your donor's willing Blank their Identity. Ettmetal charged with F-Aluminum might provide a way to forcibly Blank other people's Identity though that is just speculation. So that's how you create a power-granting Spike out of normal people, but I'm not stopping there, Hemalurgy can only grant you so many powers because your soul can only accept so many Spikes but what if there was a way around that? What if you could permanently intergrate the Spike to grant yourself the power in a deeper way? What if you tried to Compound Hemalurgy with Allomancy? It works for Feruchemy so there exists a precendent. So let's dive in. First, you'd need the previous steps, stab a bunch of muggle Scadrians while Blanking their Identity to make an Unkeyed Spike. Then, assuming it's made of Nicrosil, acquire an Electrum spike that grants A-Nicrosil, then Burn the Unkeyed Spike. If it works the same way as A-F Compounding, then it's possible that you'd be granted additional power, gaining more allomantic potency than what was in the Unkeyed Spike, potentially turning you into a Mistborn straight off like Lerasium. Though I'm going to be assuming that you will just integrate the extra Preservation into yourself, granting yourself a single Allomantic ability, probably a random one. This method, if it works like I think it does, would prove superior than just spiking yourself for 2 reasons: 1: You would have the ability without the spike, meaning the power can no longer be removed from you as it exists fully within your soul, while also closing the 'hemalurgic hole' in it to avoid the Flaw of being controlled, enabling you to have more powers without opening yourself up to external control. 2: It would allow you to overcome the 'cap' on the powers you can be granted from Hemalurgy, since in Era 2 if too many spikes are added to a soul, it stop's gaining powers, this method could allow you to circumvent this by fully integrating the power into your soul. Do this enough times, barring unforeseen consequences of this method, and you could become a Mistborn without killing anyone or becoming a Steel Inquisitor. However it's incredibly likely that this method would be extremely painful. But though I feel my reasoning is sound, this is just a theory. A BOOK THEORY! Thanks for reading.
  15. Unless I totally misread/remember incorrectly, it was the scadrians who were the first ones to give the cinder king the cinder hearts. With it being further into the space age so that the scadrians are able to travel there by ship, I wonder if in that time Harmony has slipped in Discord. The cinder hearts are a result/by product of that change. I think we all look at the different shards as good and bad, but I think it has more to do with power. The charred are seen as "bad" and Discord is typically mentioned as good mainly from the phrase "His name shall be Discord, yet they shall love him for it." But I think it has less to do with good and bad investiture and who is wielding power that makes it for good or evil. Another theory that the scadrians are aware of Discord and know the cinder hearts come from him, so they gave them out further sow discord. (Although this conflicts with their supposed stated reason for being there and just observing)
  16. This theory started out when I was rereading tWoK, and an epitaph stood out to me. It read: "He must pick it up, the fallen title! The tower, the crown, and the spear!" - Dated Vevahach, 1173, 8 seconds predeath. Subject: a prostitute. Background unknown. What stands out to me here is the clear allusion to the Kholin family crest: two glyphs in the shape of a tower and a crown. But then there's the odd duck: the spear. Why is the spear being grouped with the Kholin Crest? I think that this is the prediction that Kaladin is going to have to take up the mantle of the Kholin house. This got me to thinking: why would Kal have to do this? The obvious answer would be that all the Kholins die. And I think that's part of it. Navani, Renarin and Adolin I believe are going to die. This makes Dalinar believe he is the perfect candidate to be a Herald: used to war, already set up to take up Ishar's mantle, and now completely numb through heartbreak. I think Brandon's already been hinting that Dalinar is going to become a Herald, along with several other characters(Szeth for instance), and this would give him the perfect opportunity to do so. Shallan, now completely heartbroken over Adolin's death, refuses to take up the Kholin mantle, and Jasnah is already the queen. It would be possible for her to do it, but it doesn't seem in character for her to do it to me. So who's next in line? Kaladin. The former head of the Cobalt Guard, and the man who Dalinar trusted more than anyone. Also the most experienced Windrunner on Roshar at this point. So that's my prediction/theory. I don't know if anyone has caught this, or if Brandon has said it won't happen. Let me know your thoughts.
  17. So I think that at some point the stormfather will absorb the rest of Honor and will stay bonded to Dalinar I think he will then make him a splinter/ Avatar of Honor and use their bond to empower him to do Shard like stuff and to have a connection to the Physical Realm and allowing him to do some interesting things What are these interesting things? no idea but I think it would be cool. Any theories? and also I know this not is very likely, feel free to tear this Theory apart
  18. . All cosmere spoilers. I was going to make a post asking what society is the most technologically advanced, with Scadrial on top and Threnody or Lumar on the bottom. But then I realized- where has inventions people? The simplest answer is- they don’t exist yet. Brandon hasn’t written the book yet. (though some theories think Sunlit man is set on one of invention’s experiments). But what’s going to be the explanation? We see that Scadrians poke their noses in everywhere in the space stage. We see Elantrians in Tress. We also see a Rosharan interfering in SOTD 2. So all of these societies are out there in the space stage. But where are the inventors? So i’d like to hear your theories about what’s keeping them from the space stage Some of my theories: Invention doesn't rule over humans, Invention made too many awakened machines, Invention did an Ashyn, Invention is building something bigger than the death star, etc.
  19. So, many of us speculate, that BAM could become Bondsmith Spren. But this Theory goes further. Shortly, i think Ba-Ado-Mishram allready WAS Godspren and had a Bondsmith. During the False Desolation. FIrst, we know that BAM was earlier general of Odium's forces, but wasnt able to do what she did during False Desolation. Bonding with entire Race was new, not expected by anyone ability. And spren normaly dont have new abilities by themselves. Spren are gaining new abilities by Bond. Or no, they not have new abilities, more like they find new aplications for their abilities. In most cases this is ability to manifest in Physical Realm as Shardblades, and also ability to larger interaction with items, but for Powerfull Spren this can be something different. For Stormfather could be Visions, and also images, map and so on. We know also Bonding Unmade is possible, like with any other Spren. We also know killing Bondsmith Spren would have massive consequences for whole Roshar. Imprisonment could do the same. We can also assume that BAM was able to comand not only Singers, but also Voidspren. They are integral part of Odium's forces, essential for recon, as messengers, spies, or fight in the Cognitive. Maybe BAM could comand Voidspren to start bonding Singers and this was her main power as Unmade. But during False Desolation BAM had ability to provide Voidlight, exactly like Stormfather, Nightwatcher or Sibling. While Stormfather has this ability without Bondsmith, Sibling for example needet Bondsmith, at least now, with damaged Connection to Honor. BAM is even called little god. Like Godspren? So this theory goes on. There is two thousand years between Last Desolation and False Desolation. What Singers do during this time? They doesnt fight against Humans all the time. They live, eat, change forms. And research. And have songs about Forms of Power. Someone from them, some Singer Scientist came to conclusion than he can try mimic Human-Spren Bond and try to bond Unmade. And was able to do this. And I can gues who he was. It was EL. El, Fused with very, very specific behaviour. Is fascinating with Humans, so I can see why he could try mimic human-spren Bond. He also is scientist, good partner with Raboniel. He literaly experiments with his own body, by replacing carapace with metal. What metal is this? Could be Duralumin? But El is Fused. Shouldnt he be on Braise during False Desolation? I think not. Fused are locked on Braise, but probably like Heralds, they need to be killed first and be sent back. If he wasnt killed, if he hide among Singers, it is possiblity he would live on Roshar all the time between Last and False Desolation. So how all action with False Desolation goes? Radiants and Melishi are fighting against Singers and came to conclusion there is something wierd about Unmade Ba-Ado-Mishram. Singers have Voidlight and Forms of Power, but Odium is still on Braize. Singers have Bondsmith now. So Melishi wants to go for BAM, even while he knows about Risk for all Roshar. Radiants strike Team assault Singers with El, and Melishi uses his Bondsmith Powers to ripp off Bond with BAM from El. He replaces his Bond with Sibling with Bond with BAM, then he summons BAM similary to what Dalinar did to Stormfather, and he puts her in perfect gemstone. El sees this, and he strikes Melishi and kills him, but is killed by Radiants companions of Melishi and is sent to Braize. Sibling is damaged but was temporarly unbonded, so damage wasnt lethal. Melishi probably wants to Bond Sibling again, but was killed. When Melishi ripps off El's Bond, El loses ability to hear Rythms (literaly the same happened to Sibling!). When El arrives on Braize suffers Odiums wrath and mistakes his lose with this. He also brings Raboniel knowledge about imprisonment spren in gemstones. This is why El is so important. Is first Odium Bondsmith, and he is the one who brings knowledge nesessery to kill Heralds. What do you think?
  20. This is a theory that has been brewing in my head for some time, concerning Steel Compounders. While extremely powerful, an effective limit is placed in the form of air resistance. Thus, they cannot tap too much speed, lest they literally burn up. While an interesting case study of Sanderson's Second Law of Magic, I have always found it to be frustrating. So, I started thinking of ways to circumvent this issue. This is no novelty. Many have already conceptualized combining the [Stormlight Archive Spoiler] with Steel Compounding, which would be an effective way of going about eliminating the issue. However, such inter-planetary interaction isn't likely to occur for some time. So I started thinking of ways to make Steel Compounding safer using only things available on Scadrial. This leads to my theory. Could a Steel Compounder take a brass medallion (or a brass spike) and begin storing heat? With the use of heat Feruchemy, all heat generated by the air resistance would be siphoned away, preventing any damage to the Compounder. With enough metalminds, no heat would linger long enough to pose any threat, allowing the Steelrunner to speed up. Of course, the faster the Compounder goes, the more heat will be generated. This may eventually prove too much for the limited nature of Feruchemical storage. However, the Steelrunner would not be forced to last long. Eventually, they should be able to accelerate enough to break the sound barrier, thus ceasing the accumulation of heat. This is how I think Steel Compounding can emerge even more powerful than before. What's worse, Hemalurgy isn't even necessary. Southern Scadrian medallions solve that problem quite beautifully. I do not know if this theory is sound, so feel free to comment below with any corrections or counterarguments. ~Longshot97
  21. The question of "what does Lerasium actually do" is one of the greater mysteries surrounding god metals, but we do actually have quite a bit of information. Let's start with God Metals in general. Lerasium can be burned by anyone (or perhaps, more likely, any Scadrian/person with a Connection to Preservation), and some (though not all) God Metals have a similar property. Any Allomancer can burn Lerasium, and any Scadrian Allomancer could burn Atium as well given their Connection to that Investiture. With some Connection though, well, any God Metal is open game. But here's the interesting bit: Alloys of Lerasium with another God Metal, when burned, may grant access to other Shards' invested arts. Given what Lerasium does by itself (gives access to Preservation's invested art), and how alloys with base metals and Lerasium make a non-allomancer a Misting, and how an Allomancer burning Lerasium or a base metal-alloy of Lerasium will become stronger in their Allomancy or in the corresponding metal, I believe this is enough to make a case for the following: A non-Allomancer burning an alloy of Lerasium with another God Metal gains access to the entirety of that shard's invested art or becomes more powerful with it, with potency corresponding to the amount of Lerasium burned. Without another God Metal, Lerasium defaults to Preservation. A non-Allomancer burning an alloy of Lerasium with another God Metal and a base metal gains access to the entirety of that shard's...what? Here's where I drop a wild conjecture: each and every shard has precisely 16 invested arts that they can work with and shape. They correspond to the base metals. Some, like Preservation, have their 16 all as part of one big invested art. Some, like Honor, do not appear to put all of their eggs in one basket. Shards may collaborate with each other on these arts, like Honor and Cultivation with nine of the ten surges, though this seems to allow other shards the ability to meddle with them as well, such as Odium. Comparisons to how having a cracked spiritweb allows shardic influence abound here. It may also possible for some of these 16 invested arts to be bound together into larger, more potent abilities, such as how Bondsmiths can use Adhesion in ways that Windrunners cannot, manipulating Connection directly. I also here posit that Bavadin's sixteen arts developed their own autonomy, being her sixteen additional personalities/avatars, each associated with a completely unique invested art. Perhaps this is why Brandon has a soft spot for her, since her arts are not only unique, but have their own personalities as well. The fact that she was turning Telsin into an avatar does imply that all 16 aren't currently incarnated in the Cosmere, and thus all sixteen invested arts likely aren't present, but the Sand Lord/Sand Mastery, Patji/Aviar, and Telsin/the weird mind expansion thing she had seem to confirm this, as well as the likelihood that an avatar of Autonomy on the Darkside of Taldain is the incarnation and/or source of Starmarks. Finally, Odium has ten Voidbinding arts, and I believe it is likely that the other six are represented among the Unmade. Comparisons to the seven deadly sins aside, several of the Unmade have very similar "powers". Ashertmarn and Nergaoul, for example. I'd put money on the ten kinds of Voidbinding and the nine powers of the unmade resolving quite easily into sixteen distinct invested arts. Shards may each have particular "numbers", but I believe they all have sixteen parts. Notably, this means that burning pure Lerasium and Trellium could give you some very unpredictable invested arts, as some of them likely are completely unknown to anyone but Bavadin herself. As such, I believe that the triple-alloy effect is: A non-Allomancer burning an alloy of Lerasium with another God Metal and a base metal gains access to the entirety of that shard's invested art corresponding to that metal, or becomes more powerful with it, with potency corresponding to the amount of Lerasium burned. Without another God Metal, Lerasium defaults to Preservation. But that is all, according to Brandon, one big side effect. An Allomancer burning any of these alloys would get this affect, and something else. I strongly believe that this effect is in forging a Connection. The side effect is becoming Invested by that Connection because you're using Investiture to Connect directly to a shard, the predominant effect is in creating that original Connection, and the actual purpose of the alloys is to act as a tuning fork. An Allomancer burning Lerasium could direct this Connection to anything they want, with Allomantic power corresponding to greater control and variability, with alloys focusing this Connection more directly where the Allomancer wants. Bondsmiths appear way better at taking existing Connections, sensing them, and moving them around, but this would be an excellent route for making strong Connections in the first place. It's possible that directing the Connection this way would lessen the invested art-boosting effect, since you're not Connecting as much to a shard, but it's also possible that all you need is some Connection for the invested art to get granted or boosted, and the rest of it can be spent Connecting to whatever you want. Applications could be things like Connecting to a shard in order to become a better Vessel for it, Connecting to a person to see insights into their past, super-long-range intercontinental ballistic bonding to any spren (imagine burning some Lerasium and Koravellium, then forging a truly unbreakable bond to the Nightwatcher), messing with Selish invested arts, finding or tracking anyone or anything (iron and Edglium to track Nightblood, perhaps?), making a Luhel bond with anything at any time, or even potentially stuff like forging Connections with the dead, stealing Dawnshards, and re-forming splintered Shards with yourself as their Vessel by becoming highly Connected to them. It also seems that when you're very highly Invested, you get some kind of intuitive use of your invested arts, such as with the Tenth Heightening -- perhaps that is accomplished through Connection and as such you can get a deep, intuitive understanding of an art through this method. In short, just as Cosmere-breaking as pure Atium's grand future-sight. But there's one question left: what's Feruchemy? Ruin's art is Hemalurgy, right? I say no. Hemalurgy is not an invested art. It requires no Investiture to use, just Intent. It is literally a byproduct of Ruin's existence. Instead, I say Ruin's invested art is actually Feruchemy. Burning an alloy of Atium and Lerasium would make someone a Feruchemist, and adding a base metal would make you a Ferring. Some might protest, saying that Feruchemy doesn't fit Ruin, but Allomancy doesn't actually fit Preservation either! Allomancy involves burning a metal away, Ruining it. Feruchemy takes something and locks it in a metalmind, Preserving it. And so I'll finish with an incredibly bold and (aside from the above, and the Terris people's name coming from their word for Preservation) totally unsubstantiated proposal: Preservation's original art was Feruchemy, Ruin's was Allomancy, and they swapped them, possibly in an attempt to curb their Shard's Intent's influence on their minds. I'm not convinced by this nearly to the same degree as the above Lerasium use or the 16 invested arts per Shard, but I think it's a definite possibility.
  22. From the Coppermind's article on Fortune: Coincidences like making a series of investments that appear to be ridiculously fortunate and like pulling off the impossible with his bendalloy at the end of LM. With Fortune, Wayne could literally see the future without realizing it, which is why he made such great investments. Hoid trades his precious harmonica to Wayne for a rat. Are there other fortunes Wayne received? I'm dying to do an Era 2 re-read, now! My favorite thing was something I had noticed after my first read as sounding particularly prophetic, but that was before I realized that Sazed had essentially granted Wayne the gift of prophecy in LM by giving him so much Fortune. Wayne prophetically uses 17 or 17th a total of four times in this book alone, even though Marasi corrects him and says, dude, it's like supposed to be sixteen! Something is absolutely up with that. I cannot help but think we have a 17th Shard confirmed, and that Shard will mean a 17th godmetal. I'm not sure that's the case, but something is definitely up with seventeen. Here are the four quotes and my thoughts on them at the time... https://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/123106-wayne-his-17th-metal-17th-shard/
  23. Warning: This post contains a single Stormlight 5 prologue spoiler, masked, and potentially significant spoilers should these theories prove accurate. Reading the prologue for Stormlight 5 first is recommended. Just as the Stormfather provides Stormlight and surgebinding powers to all of Honor's children, Ba-Ado-Mishram (BAM) became the Voidmother proving Voidlight and voidbinding powers to all of Odium's children, all of her Singers, during the False Desolation. One BAM to Connect them all One BAM aligned them One BAM to draw them all And with her Voidlight bind them One gem severs the whole One gem divides them One gem rips away souls And then the darkness finds them In the Land of Roshar Where the Singers die And Listeners live We'll explore much relevant history leading up to and beyond BAM's imprisonment (see Coppermind's BAM and False Desolation articles for supporting canon references) and theories explaining the magical science behind what happened with BAM, her Singers, and related events. BAM-SINGER CONNECTION HISTORY The lead up to and fall out from BAM's gemstone capture includes: Long, long ago, Odium unmakes 9 spren who fight during many desolations in which BAM serves as highprincess and commander of Odium's forces, The last desolation comes where all but Taln survive, Taln holds Odium and his Fused on Braize all by himself (spanning a total of 4500 years), During the long imprisonment of Odium and the Fused, BAM somehow gains the ability to pull Voidlight into the Physical Realm and to Connect herself with all the Singers of Roshar, a feat previously only managed by Odium, making herself a little god (RoW 847-848), Even though Odium and the Fused are still trapped on Braize, BAM's newfound powers give her the ability to provide Singers with forms of power including all the Regal forms plus stormform, which allows BAM to wage war against the Knights Radiant during the False Desolation, with no end in sight, The Listeners, tired of endless war and manipulation from both Odium and Honor, "cast off everything - including our very forms - to find freedom," which severs their Connection to BAM (RoW 159), Honor's long, slow death begins around this time, The Knights Radiant form a special Strike Team to imprison BAM inside a gemstone in order to end the False Desolation, Because BAM is a little god and holds strong Connection to the spren and souls of every Singer in Roshar except the Listeners, these tethered souls and spren get sucked along their Connection to BAM, ripping out pieces of their souls, removing both their Identity and Connection, and possible damaging or destroying their gemhearts in the ripping process, Somehow even Honor and Cultivation's spren and the Sibling get damaged by BAM's imprisonment, though to a much smaller degree that perhaps signals a much smaller Connection between the Voidmother and "all who belong to Roshar," affecting the Sibling's abilities to make Towerlight and crippling Urithiru (RoW 621), Close to dying, Honor cannot help the Sibling, Urithiru, or the Knights Radiant, The Battle for Feverstone Keep begins before BAM's imprisonment since the enemy still pushes for that ground and parshmen are anything but pushy (OB 809), BAM's imprisonment, if during the Battle for Feverstone Keep, would have caused all fighting Singers to experience excruciating pain and then simultaneously transform into docile, mindless parshmen, All Singers Connected to BAM become parshmen through a break in Identity and Connection; only the Listeners escape because of their previously broken Connections to her, Hundreds of Windrunners and Stonewards at Feverstone Keep become the first to abandon their oaths en masse as Honor says, "they are the first" (OB 547), Two thousand years later, the Everstorm travels to Roshar through the Cognitive Realm and is brought through to the physical realm, and The Everstorm restores both Identity and Connection by repairing the Singers’ souls and possibly their gemhearts. SCIENCE-MAGIC THEORY BEHIND CONNECTION, CAPTURING SPREN, AND THE SINGERS' SOULS From Newton, we know: Force = mass * acceleration From Jasnah (OB 1179), we know that "concentrated Stormlight has a faint mass to it." So the more we accelerate the physical mass of the Stormlight, the stronger the physical force we have acting on the Stormlight and anything Connected to and by the Stormlight. How do we move or accelerate Stormlight? Navani's lecture on fabrial mechanics includes details on sucking Light into a gemstone in order to trap a spren inside a gemstone. We first lure a spren into close proximity to a gemstone with something it likes (e.g., flames for flamespren) and by using the type of gemstone it prefers (RoW epigraphs, Chapter 1). Interestingly, we already know the type of gemstones preferred by each Order of Knights Radiant (and each associated herald). Moash's knife had a large sapphire gemstone hilt that gave a subdued glow after capturing Jezrien's spren-soul (OB 1205), which makes me wonder if the gemstone in Leshwi's spear (RoW 80) that drained Kaladin's Stormlight and nearly sucked out his soul (RoW 101) was sapphire, as well. The first questions we must ask ourselves would be 1) what would BAM be attracted to and 2) what kind of gemstone would she prefer? To answer the second, maybe the Voidmother would prefer a heliodor, as the Stormfather would. As for the first question, she appears to like war and commanding, and she has shown particular interest in Feverstone Keep (OB 809). One might imagine Melishi, the False Desolation's Bondsmith, and her Strike Team showing up at the Battle for Feverston Keep with a large and perfect (or nearly perfect) heliodor gemstone, knowing that BAM would be nearby commanding her troops and in search of something in the area that interested her. Navani's next stages in capturing a spren (RoW epigraphs, Chapters 2-5) would be filling the gemstone to around 70% full of Stormlight (Voidlight in BAM's case) and then quickly sucking that Stormlight out to create a vacuum that will suck in a nearby spren. Suppose you take a brown paper lunch sack and suck the air out. It collapses, right? The same would be true of a Ziploc bag. By collapsing to reduce the volume, the bag equalizes the pressure. But what about something that has a rigid structure like a gemstone, especially a gemstone that doesn't leak? If you suck all the air out of a glass, for example, you'd suction that glass to your face since you've created a vacuum of extremely low pressure. Because air and Light will always seek the lowest pressure possible, they'll get sucked into a vacuum until the pressure outside of the gem roughly equals the pressure inside the gem. Since volume is inversely proportional to pressure, the larger the gemstone, the lower the pressure (where the lower pressure goes the stronger the vacuum becomes). And finally, the tighter the seal, the less a gemstone will leak and the stronger the vacuum will be. So large, perfect gemstones make the perfect traps for these gods. At this point, you might be asking yourself, how does the spren gets sucked in along with the Stormlight? That's where Connection comes in. When the Stormfather gives Stormlight to his children - his spren and his surgebinders - an invisible cord of Stormlight will Connect that spren or that Radiant to the Stormfather. The same can be said for the Voidmother's children - BAM's spren and her Singers: they're all Connected to their mother by a physical force from the Voidlight she provides. Let's say you have a massive gemstone and a larkin quickly sucking a ton of Light out of your stone. The gemstone will quest out seeking to replace all or almost all of the light it just lost with a powerful force. Once it captures a nearby Stormlight Connection cord, the spren will be drawn in along with the Stormlight the spren is tethered to. Yes, the Connection is mostly spiritual, but there is a small physical Connection, too (because the Stormlight Connecting them has a small mass, as Jasnah said, and mass * acceleration is force, as Newton said). If we yank hard enough on that tether, the spren cannot help but be pulled in. We see this with spren pulled into fabrials, yes, but also with human and Singer souls, tethered to their home planet by their Connection to the Investiture there. We saw Jezrien's spren-soul sucked into Moash's sapphire knife and Kaladin's soul nearly sucked into Leshwi's gemstone-capped spear, both of which had metal that specifically draws in Stormlight including the Stormlight cords of Connection. Let me digress for a smidge to explain that Identity and souls are nearly synonymous. For instance, the Fused (where each Fused is the soul of one ancient Singer fuzed together forever to a surgebinding spren, granting surgebinding powers and immortality) maintain their Identities - and most of their intellect, knowledge, and memories - even though they constantly lose the rest of their bodies because Identity is stored in the soul. Connection for the traditional Singer bond appears to be stored in their gemhearts since that is where their spren and probably their souls reside. Now I said all that to say this: this, this, this is how Singers' souls were ripped away, how their Identity and Connection were stolen, and how they became mindless parshman slaves, by having parts of their souls that were tethered to their Voidmother ripped free, likely destroying their gemstones in the process, as BAM and all her many Connections were sucked into her gemstone prison. With Singer souls damaged, they were not quite soulless and mindless nothings but nearly so. And with Singer gemhearts damaged or destroyed, the parshmen lost their abilities to bond any other spren or to hear the rhythms of Roshar inside their gemhearts. The Listeners were spared, maintaining their Identity and their abilities to Connect with other spren because they had previously severed their Connections to BAM before her imprisonment. TRAVEL & WORLDHOPPING We'd be remiss if, while we're here with Connection, we didn't speculate on travel and worldhopping. Connection tethers Invested individuals to their home planet, not letting them escape lest they rip out part of their souls, their Identity, and destroy their Connection. But of course there is a way around this problem, a way out, because this is Sanderson, after all. The remainder of the post includes a little speculation about how off-world travel may be possible based on what we know of Connection above and a single spoiler from the Knights of Wind and Truth prologue that gives a bit more detail regarding the quote above. Reading the prologue for Stormlight 5 first is recommended. I've kept all non-Stormlight cosmere spoilers out of this post.
  24. 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.
  25. Big theory about Unmade, Roshar Races, Spren and Shallan. Please, my weakest aspect of fandom is the knowledge released in WOBs. Help me and show me why I’m wrong. General Theory / Ideas: Based on the convolution and details regarding the surgebinding chart that Brandon has mentioned, plus the thematic relevance of numbers 9/10 on Roshar in regard to how Odium’s forces align with the others. And finally, culminating in a human/spren theory that informs my SHALLAN theory. Enjoy and let’s poke some holes. Part 1: Odium Unmakes True Spren · The First Desolation begins and the Oathpact is made to help humanity. · True Spren start forming bonds to make Knights Radiant · Seeing how effective this was for human forces, Odium takes action. The same way creating a Nahel Bond makes Spren more physical and human like, Unmaking them does the opposite…even distorting these Spren cultural/personal inclinations. · Now because this is happening on Roshar, there are natural effects and laws of the world that separates the new Unmade into categories (this relates back to the Surgebinding chart alluded to before. o There are a couple ways to divide the Unmade into categories (physical, cognitive, spiritual realms, etc.) But for this I made a 3X3 organizer with Odium, Cultivation and Honor on one side and Intelligent, Middling and Unintelligent on the top. Nine positions for nine Unmades. o Starting at the TOP position with Honor/Windrunners, then counting three for each group: Honor = Windrunners, Skybreakers, Dustbringers. Cultivation = Edgedancers, Lightweavers, Elsecallers. Odium = Lightspren, Peakspren, Mistspren. o Also, within each of these three groups, there should be ONE intelligent Unmade, ONE middling Unmade and one unintelligent Unmade. · Odium Unmade the 9 TRUE SPREN to create these Unmade: o Honorspren = Odium pulled an Honorspren into the physical world and they became Ba-ado Mishram. BAM was a leader for their side much like Windrunners. Also, people think BAM gave the singers forms to help Odiums forces, but if you look at it like BAM wanted to do it in spite of Odium…BAM kind of broke its oaths. This is the Intelligent Unmade for the first three positions. o Highspren = Odium pulled a Highspren into the physical world and they became Chemoarish. This Unmade has little known about them. I predict they will be a middling Unmade (not too smart or too primal). Skybreakers DO have the Surge of Division, so maybe Dustmother incorrectly became associated with the Dustbringers when in reality, it was connected to the Skybreakers. No idea how Highspren’s sense of law factors into Chemoarish yet. o Ashspren = Odium pulled a Ashspren into the physical realm and it became Re-shephir. Re-shephir is the Unintelligent Unmade for these three. Dustbringers are interested in breaking things apart to see them. As a result, Re-shephir was altered and now observes how things work rather than breaking them. This doesn’t count if humans kill, because she doesn’t see this as breaking, but imitating. o Cultivationspren = Odium pulled a Cultivationspren into the physical realm and it became Sja-anat. Sja-anat is the Intelligent Unmade for the next three spots on the Surgebinding chart. Cultivation spren are defined as fearful and trepidatious. Sja-anat became a daring Unmade who was brave enough to take secrets, pruning and planting secrets into the world to manipulate it as she tries to forge her own way in the world. o Cryptics = Odium pulled a Cryptic spren into the physical realm and it became Moelach. Moelach is the middle intelligence spren for these three on the chart. This is because he can observe and speak through dying people. Cryptics enjoy truths and lies, so Moelach gravitated towards future sight and relaying it as a FACT even if it wasn’t…thus confusing humanity. Also, Moelach is in the Cultivation region of the Surgebinding Chart, and Cultivation is deemed the most gifted at foresight. o Inkspren = Odium pulled an Inkspren into the physical world and it became Nergaoul. Inkspren are logical but when they were Unmade, they beame the Thrill…an illogical force of nature and the Unintelligent Unmade for this section of the Chart. (Also a little connection, but Inkspren can’t disappear in the physical realm, and The Thrill can’t disappear in the Cognitive realm.) o Lightspren = Odium pulled a Lightspren into the physical realm and it became Dai-gonarthis. (First, rhythms and sounds seem to be more natural to Roshar, thus Light investure may be more of Odium or humans, hence his section of the Chart and his most intelligent Unmade is Dai-gonarthis.) Lightspren seem to have the strongest connection to singers…they can go in gem hearts, hear rhythms and understand them, know how to subdue Voidspren. We don’t know much about Dai-gonarthis, but if it was the Unmade that scoured Aimia, Odium may be behind this to get at the Dawnshards or something else. The one note in COPPERMIND I saw is that Dai-gonarthis is classified as a mid-level Unmade, but I NEVER see that mentioned anywhere in text. And the reference COPPERMIND has doesn’t seem to imply that either in my opinion. o Peakspren = Odium pulled a Peakspren into the physical realm and it became Yelignar. We don’t know much about Peakspren other than they are described as Individualistic. This was corrupted when it became Unmade because now it can’t exist without another person to bond and use. Since Yelignar can communicate once inside someone, it is the Middle intelligence Spren for this section of the Chart. o Mistspren = Odium pulled a Mistspren into the physical realm and it became Ashertmarn. Ashertarn is a mindless Unmade focused on extreme emotion and passion because it is from Odium’s part of the Chart. Mistspren are open to enlightenment and truth, and as such were corrupted into being an Unmade who seeks no truth, only carnal pleasure. These ideas leave no room or explanation for BONDSMITHS. There is always something funky going on with them, and this is about Odium’s balance to the 9 surges of Roshar. Part 2: Ba-ado-Mishram’s Powerful Effects · The next part of this theory relies on one major tenant: we have NO idea the extent of BAM’s powers or the ramifications of what they did before their capture. · So following the timeline, Knights Radiant and Heralds are fighting and succeeding in Desolations until Odium pulls these Spren into the physical world, Unmakes them and now the Unmade are making it more difficult for humanity to catch up, Heralds break faster and humanity can’t recover. · The Heralds Abandon their oathpact. · One thing to note here, which will become important later, is that based on most visions we get from the past through Dalinar’s eyes, the peoples of Roshar at this point do not look as varied in their races and physical appearances as later in Rosharan history. · Ba-ado-mishram does SOMETHING that we know gives Listeners forms. o But what’s more important…is what happened to Spren. · Spren who were of the fourth ideal or lower became Deadeyes. · Spren of the FIFTH ideal were ripped from the cognitive realm and became humans. · Despite this, most orders of the Knights Radiant wanted to imprison or destroy BAM. · Fearing this would never allow the problem to fixed, Windrunners and Stonewards…two groups dedicated to protection and winning battles that seem unwinnable, they gave up their powers so as to protect their Spren from this happening again…since they wouldn’t be killing BAM. · Once the False Desolation was over and the Knights Radiant disbanded, a more modern version of society began to take place as Roshar drifted away from the Epoch Kingdoms and the Desolations. · The fifth ideal spren who became humans, spread across Roshar, mating with humans and creating the diverse races we now see on Roshar. o I’ve tried matching Spren descriptions with Racial descriptions on Roshar, allowing for some tweaking, but there are some interesting connections and theories…there are 9 True Spren and anywhere between 8-11 races on Roshar depending on how you break it down or look at it…also which history or historian you believe. (Including Sanderson here) · As a result of all this, any Spren who understood how Nahel bonding worked or what was going on in the physical realm either a.) became humans trapped in the physical realm, or B.) became a Deadeye who can’t communicate. This means the old, reluctant spren who stayed in the cognitive realm and didn’t want to bond became the only survivors (why Syl was special?). This gives them a biased and illogical recollection of these events. Part 3: So What’s this Mean? · So far this theory really focuses on World Building and history that puts certain things more into categories and profiles, rather than using it as a basis for a theory going forward. · Everything on my theory going forward hinges on what we DON’T KNOW about Ba-ado-mishram. · My prediction is that when BAM is released and does the thing that it does…along with the aid of an UNCHECKED Bondsmith (Ishar), she will transport the ENTIRE spren population into the physical realm…or rather combine them together…thus eliminating the Nahel bond as we know it in terms of using STORMLIGHT. · One theory I saw online that helped spark this idea was the fact that the 5 POV characters in the back half are characters with SPECIAL circumstances that will allow them powers WITHOUT a typical Nahel Bond. o Jasnah will use ADVANCED fabrial technology to perform her abilities. o Lift uses food to power her abilities. o Taln uses his Honorblade o Ash uses her Honorblade (but about this time in the series I see the connection being fixed in time for Ash to join ANOTHER Order, thus proving it can be done again) o Renarin uses Voidlight to access abilities. Part 4: One Last Tin-Foil Connection to SHALLAN/SPREN NOTE – I’m not going to refer to Veil, Radiant and Shallan in this part because the specific actions taken my each don’t affect this theory really. ALL Shallan’s refer to whatever Shallan is speaking at a particular part. · As I’m doing my re-read, the one major theory I’ve had for a few years now ALWAYS pops back into my head as more evidence appears. I’ve written about it before on here but have ALWAYS been refuted because of one specific WOB: o Shallan’s parents are really Shallan’s parents. · This is relevant because I’m almost POSITIVE we have seen someone on page who is or was a SPREN…only they don’t know it because they were pulled into the physical realm similar to Ishar has done and BAM has done if you believe this theory. · I think when Brandon mentions Shallan’s history in WOBs, he answers sometimes as in world interpretations. If Shallan’s parents THOUGHT or BELIEVED in her enough, or took the proper actions to BRING her into the physical realm, maybe they truly DO think of themselves as parents. · I don’t want to repost my ideas and evidence about Shallan being a spren become human…but some new ideas connecting this to her RoW journey popped up as I read. o This all comes specifically from chapter 26 in RoW (A Little Espionage) o Shallan starts the chapter not great, comes out and does OK, but by the end something really freaks her out bad and she retreats again. o When we first see Shallan, she is drawing and Cryptics are standing around her observing her. The same way someone sent on a spy quest is debriefed for intelligence by their commanding officers, they seem to be acquiring the knowledge of what Shallan has come to understand about people and humans. o Next, Shallan begins investigating Ishnah who got into something she didn’t understand or realize the extent of and is now over her head. § SHALLAN transforming into the Physical realm and not knowing it and being over her head. o Next Shallan goes to Beryl who says: “That I could walk away if I wanted to. Nothing was keeping me there. § Nothing is keeping Spren from doing this if they know how. SHALLAN is proof of this. o Next, Beryl says: the almighty’s greatest blessing to humans, the ability to change. Sometimes all we need is a seed. § SHALLAN changes from Spren to human (not sure about the seed) o Next, Vathah says: Figure if I learn to Lightweave well enough, Maybe I’ll turn into someone else…” § SHALLAN is a Lightweaver and she changed from Spren to human. o The NEXT LINE After that quote, Shallan thinks: That stabbed her straight through. § It’s because she sort of remembers this… o Finally, when Vathah says it again that he would like to be someone new…Shallan replies with this! “YOU CAN DO IT WITHOUT LIGHTWEAVING” § Because she knows she has done it…become someone new. A human from a spren. o At the end of the chapter, Veil specifically says that something Shallan thought in the last few pages was about to stir the truth and her memories… § But SHALLAN ties herself in a knot and shuts down. TL:DR: · Surgebinding Chart gives clues to how Odium took the 9 TRUE SPREN and Unmade them; using this as justification to attempt it, Ba-ado-mishram attempts this as well and screws up the world by bringing over bonded Spren and killing bonded Spren when she connected to Listeners. This led to different Races on Roshar and gives evidence to my theory that Shallan is really a Spren turned human and doesn’t know it. PS – I have another big piece I’m working on that says Szeth was also a Spren, maybe Nale’s, before he was brought into the physical realm as well. (fifth book based on Szeth would be the place to present this.) Let me know what you think.
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