Crack Theories

[2spooky4myshirt]

I've got a handful of ideas with no real backing, but nothing to disprove them either.

so I thought it might be fun to have a thread of wild, out there, or even stupid theories clinging to our brains. Who knows, maybe we will get something right by chance.

 

I'll start with one of my worse.

Ashyn has surgebinding kaiju. Why? We know something bad involving explosions and axie happened there. Probably some radiation to be found there. And one of the few WoB we have on the place confirmed reptiles can be found there. And I doubt the diseases that grant the surges are completely gone.

so, surgebinder kaiju.

Maybe Cultivation has had some fun while waiting for all her plans to work out on Roshar. 

[cometaryorbit]

Surgebinder kaiju would be so awesome. And we're already half there on Roshar, chasmfiends are kaiju like and their weight reducing spren bond is similar to using Gravitation.

--

Shallan is bonded to three spren, not two, and the third is Ba-Ado-Mishram who was the Unmade influencing the Davar family and the reason the Ghostbloods and Skybreakers were both interested in the family.

--

(More seriously) there are a bunch of secret Kandra on Era 2 Scadrial, possibly not working for Harmony (not necessarily Trell agents or anti-Harmony, possibly just free agents). A lot of the 2nd generation turned against the 1st generation and imprisoned Sazed, would they really just immediately convert to serving Harmony? And TenSoon seems to be the oldest one around... MeLaan does talk about how some of the oldest kandra just got tired of being immortal and figured out how to die, but all of them?

Edited July 5, 2022 by cometaryorbit

[2spooky4myshirt]

Corrupted investiture is red because red is Dominion's color. And corrupting is just one shard taking dominion over another's power. 

 

Speaking of, Sel will be one of the big bads in era 4. Elantrians seem like the good ones, but there are a lot of empires on sel always looking to expand.

The shard of Ambition died in the middle of space with no planet nearby. With no people that means no cognitive realm so the shard will gain sentience on its own and be another large threat later on.

Odium struggles with original ideas. Barrier storm protecting Braize? Stole that from seeing the Dor form. Fused? Yanked the Svrakiss concept off sel too. He is out there shattering other shards half because he wants to be the only one. Half because he has no clue what to do with a planet if he had to start fresh.

[cometaryorbit]

There's also my crazy Voidbinding theory: basically Voidbinding is to Surgebinding what Hemalurgy is to Allomancy/Feruchemy, a system defined more by how you get powers than by a set of powers:

 

[teknopathetic]

Ba-Ado-Mishram was supposed to be a Herald, but she defected to the Singers/Odium's side (allowing Taln to take her place). The heralds seem to know her quite well, and I think this hints at a relationship prior to her unmaking. 

It also might make Nale's swap make a bit more sense as he is not the first herald-type person to change to the Singer side. 

Edited July 7, 2022 by teknopathetic

[+ShardlessVessel]

Allomancy, Feruchemy and Hemalurgy have absolutely nothing to do with metal.

The Scadrians simply don't know how to properly use their magic and have been working with a hack this whole time, by using metal to conduct and key Investiture.

[Frustration]

1 hour ago, ShardlessVessel said:

Allomancy, Feruchemy and Hemalurgy have absolutely nothing to do with metal.

The Scadrians simply don't know how to properly use their magic and have been working with a hack this whole time, by using metal to conduct and key Investiture.

That is strictly speaking untrue. The metal may not provide the power itself, but it is neccesary for the magic to function.

[+ShardlessVessel]

2 hours ago, Frustration said:

That is strictly speaking untrue. The metal may not provide the power itself, but it is neccesary for the magic to function.

The whole crack theory is that this is a misconception of people both in-world and out. That metals are not actually necessary for the magic, and that their use in the Metallic Arts is an incidental byproduct of the natural affinity of metals for Investiture, and that there is a nontrivial method/alternative methods for using those magics which do not rely on metal.

[Part of the One]

Here's one - creating Nightblood was supposed to be an attempt at creating a shardblade with Endowment's investiture.  But instead of trying to animate any old piece of metal, they used an actual, dead shardblade they got from Roshar, and woke it up into kind of a Frankenstein's monster (lifeless spren?).

My money would be on an Ashspren, because Division seems like Nightblood's thing. To be clear, not an abandoned spren, but one they tried to take back to Nalthis which caused it to die, which maybe they didn'tknowwould happen. So Shashara tried to fix it...

I haven't read anything that would specifically disprove this even though there's a good chance it's out there.

[+Child of Hodor]

The Iriali built Elantris and then left. That's why Elantris was found fully built but abandoned. They up and left.  https://coppermind.net/wiki/Elantris_(city)#Discovery. 

A big thing about Sel and Elantris in particular is the Aon Dor and all the Aons. Each Aon is three letters. We don't know many Iriali related names, but we know a few like Iri, Evi and her brother Toh. This seems like something the Iriali picked up from spending time on Sel. 

Braize is 9-centric instead of 10 like the rest of Roshar because Honor made Adhesion inaccessible when he and Cultivation trapped Odium. That's why the Fused can't use Adhesion.  Not a lot of support for this, it's a crack theory . I just think it's the simplest answer as to why Braize is 9-centric and Odium tells the Fused that Adhesion is a fake surge. Honor turned Adhesion against Odium when trapping him on Braize. 

 https://wob.coppermind.net/events/33/#e2745

 

 

[cometaryorbit]

8 hours ago, Child of Hodor said:

The Iriali built Elantris and then left. That's why Elantris was found fully built but abandoned. They up and left.  https://coppermind.net/wiki/Elantris_(city)#Discovery. 

A big thing about Sel and Elantris in particular is the Aon Dor and all the Aons. Each Aon is three letters. We don't know many Iriali related names, but we know a few like Iri, Evi and her brother Toh. This seems like something the Iriali picked up from spending time on Sel.

Hmm! I figured it was the Ire (Elantris was found abandoned because the Ire moved into the Cognitive Realm) but the names are so similar, maybe the Iriali are connected to the Ire? Maybe they're non-Elantrian descendants of the Ire (away from Arelon the Shaod won't transform them), or descended from non-Elantrian servants or followers who the Ire took into the Cognitive?

This could easily be promoted to a valid theory.

 

EDIT: also my crazy theory where Kaladin becomes a Bondsmith in book 5:

 

Edited July 6, 2022 by cometaryorbit

[Stormtide_Leviathan]

On 7/5/2022 at 7:02 PM, ShardlessVessel said:

Allomancy, Feruchemy and Hemalurgy have absolutely nothing to do with metal.

The Scadrians simply don't know how to properly use their magic and have been working with a hack this whole time, by using metal to conduct and key Investiture.

I think there's some credence to this. Metal is (outside of godmetals), a "key" to the investiture of preservation, but there are other ways to access that investiture, like drawing on the mists. So maybe in the future it'll become more common to trap mist in a gemstone somehow and use that to fuel allomancy instead (although since mist is only on scadrial, when you're out in space using the metal "hack" will probably still be common).

Feruchemy, I'm not exactly sure how it would work without metals. You'd still need something to store the power in I think, but other cosmere magics have let you store stuff (like memories in breath) so it's not out of the question that there are ways to store attributes elsehow.

Hemalurgy, I do also feel there are ways to do it without metal. I dunno how exactly, but I've always felt it was off. Many of the metals we know can only take allomantic or feruchemic attributes, but we know hemalurgy is meant to be a magic that'll be used all throughout the cosmere in the future used for all kinds of stuff so it seems odd that so many metals are taken up by only working on one specific kind of magic. But if metals aren't the only way to use hemalurgy, then that's less of an issue.

[Rg2045]

I like the kaladin becomes a bondsmith especially sense a lot of the oaths overlap one another, 

my crack pot theory is that the recreance was caused by the radiants going to war with the people, I’ll post a link to the theory as I posted it not too long ago.

another one (I posted before as well) is that the high storm wasn’t always invested as much and didn’t provide storm light before honors death. 
and another that I’m hoping to post in

the near future is that urithiru will become a massive mother ship in era three. Allowing a bondsmith to travel the galaxy. 

 

Edited July 7, 2022 by Rg2045
Added links

[teknopathetic]

Roshar is gonzo. The Stormlight series has always been about refugee population politics, and we are going to see this cycle happen once more. Shardwise, the series is about the planet dying in order to preserve "honour" and to  reap and "cultivate" something new. The hidden ending in the first books is the vision Dalinar sees of Roshar being swept by a final destruction storm that ends the planet all together. Roshar has to stand in contrast to the fates of other worlds in main-line book series, so I think Dead-Roshar is what we are going too see from both a thematic point of view (the refugee stories throughout time) and a meta-narrative point of view (it has to be different than Scadrial).

We also have Hoid saying he would let the world burn if he had to do it, wherein which Roshar actually being destroyed would be an amazing pay-off to his continual threats. This might also help get Spren off-world, as the world itself went kablooey. Surely there are other ways, but the destruction of the planet Spren are connected to might also work! The destruction is also foreshadowed by the Venli vision where Odium is pulling apart the planet, and Dalinar tries to hold it together with connection.

What happens in terms of Karbradth and the whole "it cant be destroyed" plotline also needs to pay off eventually, and the world actually being destroyed is certainly an interesting test of that infamous deal. 

What happens after Roshar is obliterated? Either a return to Braize and Ashyn in order to make those worlds re-habitable on larger scales, or another migration trail along the lines of the Iriali but where different cultural/ethnic/national populations go different ways onto different worlds. Based on something else I cant talk about here, we likely know where the Iriali end up instead of Nalthis/Ashyn/Braize. If the cast does indeed leave the system altogether, then the main cast I think heads to Nalthis since we know that world is close, Nalthis has been WOBed to have a customs office, and because we have important and powerful characters from Nalthis with key connections to Dalinar and his family.

I cant decide if this happens at the end of book 5 or the end of book 10, but I am going to go with the end of book 5. The time jump to book 6 is then the cast resettling on a new planet, and the Heralds and Listeners going through yet another planet resettlement + a lot of anxiety over how this all goes this time around. The thing that makes me think it might end in book 10 is that WOB saying the series end is hidden in the first 2 books, and the series end as far as I am concerned is the World-Ending Storm seen in the final vision. 

I also cant decide if I prefer a Braize & Ashyn resettlement with the help of the Shards, or a crazy flight to Nalthis where the Rosharians will need to renegotiate everything they know. It would be cute if a magically protected Karbrandth-Island is floated off to some new world. Maybe Braize & Ashyn would be easier to pull off narratively, but Nalthis would just be so interesting to see adjust to this. 

Edited July 7, 2022 by teknopathetic

[+Child of Hodor]

In book 5 Dalinar becomes both a Herald and vessel of Honor. The Oathpact is between Honor and the Heralds yet it trapped the Fused to Braize. As both Herald and Honor Dalinar modifies the Oathpact to be able to trap Odium on Braize as long as Dalinar stays on Braize.  So even if Odium gets out of his original bonds he is trapped via another mechanism. 

Through the Oathpact the Heralds (cognitive shadows) could trap the Fused (cognitive shadows) and voidspren on Braize. despite the Fused not being a party to the Oathpact. If CS can trap CS then Shard can trap Shard with Herald/Shard Dalinar doing it. This could also work if Dalinar "unites" Honor permanently and hands it off to another character that is a Herald (either old or a new person).  

The Everstorm is dealt with some other way and the Fused are no longer a threat because some decide to give up on their vengeance some are killed by anti-voidlight and/or Ishar making them pure physical realm beings like he did to the spren. 

End state of book 5 is Dalinar and Taravangian together on Braize debating philosophy a call back to RoW when Dalinar visits Taravangian for the last time and they both say they wish one day they could sit and debate like they did in OB. I posted this in a previous thread and someone wrote a very funny example of their debate on Braize. https://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/107059-discuss-the-stormlight-5-prologue-here/?do=findComment&comment=1335424

 

Edited July 8, 2022 by Child of Hodor

[Flaming Coinshot]

On 7/5/2022 at 10:57 AM, cometaryorbit said:

Surgebinder kaiju would be so awesome. And we're already half there on Roshar, chasmfiends are kaiju like and their weight reducing spren bond is similar to using Gravitation.

--

Shallan is bonded to three spren, not two, and the third is Ba-Ado-Mishram who was the Unmade influencing the Davar family and the reason the Ghostbloods and Skybreakers were both interested in the family.

--

(More seriously) there are a bunch of secret Kandra on Era 2 Scadrial, possibly not working for Harmony (not necessarily Trell agents or anti-Harmony, possibly just free agents). A lot of the 2nd generation turned against the 1st generation and imprisoned Sazed, would they really just immediately convert to serving Harmony? And TenSoon seems to be the oldest one around... MeLaan does talk about how some of the oldest kandra just got tired of being immortal and figured out how to die, but all of them?

The Firsts were older and retired by the time of Final Empire, and the Seconds were approaching their level of age, so by AoL, they'd be ooolllldd

[+Child of Hodor]

Shallan is her own mother who is Chana. Chana put her soul in a child version body of herself and the Mother she stabs in the flashback is an elaborate Lightweaving. Just to make her backstory as complicated and baffling as possible. 

 

[Use the Falchion]

Ba-Ado-Mishram is the Dawnshard of Unity, but has sense been Unmade. We know that one Dawnshard is not like the others, and I think that means that one is alive. Ba-Ado-Mishram's abilities and purpose fit the idea of Binding/Connecting/Uniting people together, and I think it'd be an interesting approach for the character. HOWEVER, I also think that because the Physical and Cognitive aspect of BAM are locked up, the Spiritual ideal of the Dawnshard is seeking a new host, and that host is Dalinar. So, Dalinar will be a Dawnshard of some kind. 

The other Dawnshards, one is with Rysn, and I have a crackpot theory (as new as not even two hours ago) that Lift is a Dawnshard. This doesn't explain everything about her, but I think it makes some sense. 

Other than that, Kaladin will Ascend and become Honor (not too crackpot), the Heralds weren't the first Heralds (super crackpot), Era 4 will end with Kelsier dying and finally going to the Beyond (somewhat feasible I guess). 

[stonehand]

On 7/6/2022 at 8:35 PM, Stormtide_Leviathan said:

we know hemalurgy is meant to be a magic that'll be used all throughout the cosmere in the future used for all kinds of stuff

I like to imagine that by era 4 Hemalurgy has been refined to the point that there's no longer any loss of life and it's basically just magical acupuncture

 

On 7/6/2022 at 9:52 PM, Rg2045 said:

the near future is that urithiru will become a massive mother ship in era three. Allowing a bondsmith to travel the galaxy.

words cannot state how much i hope this happens

This is less crack theory than my own silly head cannon, but Toril, the planet on which most of Dungeons & Dragons lore takes place is a Shardworld, and the Shard is Whimsy.